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Name: whatdat

Comment: I am having second thoughts about seeing it. The director and writer are whites. Also, as best i can tell, three or four of the producers are also white. That means most of the principals controlling the film are white. Another i have seen promotion posters featuring the white detective. Usually that signals who will be the focus. One poster was particularly telling.. It was a huge blow up of the detective(Tim Robbins) holding a small photo of Chamusso (Derek Luke) behind bars. Posters like that are visional code for whites that it is okay to come to this movie because a white man is in the lead role. Not only that, it is also a classical representation of stereotypes. Chamusso was a revolutionary none of the promos need to show him behind bars. Whereas, the idea of a Black revolutionary might frighten whites away, the idea of an African prisoner won't. In addition, the movie was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival under the title "Hotstuff". Hotstuff was the moniker given Patrick Chamusso after he set fire to the oil company for which he worked. With that title, Chamusso clearly would have had to been the central character around which the story revolved. The new title shifts the emphasis. Who is going to 'catch the fire' or the 'fire setter'? The white detective, of course. Film festivals are where films pick up financiers and distributors. Usually too, movies at film festivals have not received final editing. This film went into Toronto as "Hotstuff" it came out as "Catch a Fire" with Tim Robbins the face of the movie--a movie ostensibly about a Black African. Was there editing done also to make the film more about the 'benevolent' police than about the Black revolutionary? My gut says yes. I know how white folks are and i feel certain this is what has been done to the film. We absolutely need to control our own images. Otherwise, even so-called white liberals will give us distorted stories about ourselves that elevate white characters over Black characters. (e.g., Amistad) It continues to implant in minds the idea of white supremacy. My opinionated take. Having said that, i really want to get to know brotha Chamusso’s story and I do not know of a book that tells it. So I probably will see the film, in spite of Derek Luke and his white Latino. That is because i will be able to learn something about this outstanding Black African of whom I can be proud.

Name: gingerg

Comment: The opportunity to learn more about this great, courageous man outweighs everything else.

Name: MzTee

Comment: =====>Gingerg...exactly.

Name: Bertie

Comment: if your goal is to ensure that films on subject matters like this never get made bc they're not supported, and instead films by blacks like "Waist Deep" or "Soul Plane" are all we see,--then boycott away.

Name: justmythoughts

Comment: Where do I begin. Gingerg and Bertie are so on point. This is a film that needs to be supported so that we can continue to have films of substance made. Sometimes people can get so hung up in the perspectives such as whatdat's. People forget that we live in America and in order to bring films to an American market, changes are made. However, I don't think that Mr. Chamusso would stand behind this film if it didn't bring his truth. Black folks can we please support this film and not let it down like we did Akeelah and the Bee..................

Name: MelodyCool

Comment: whatdat, I hear you. The Last King of Scotland is another example.

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