In two weeks I leave for my fourth – and certainly not last – visit to Africa. I will tour Botswana, Zimbabwe (U.S. State Department Travel Warning, issued a year ago, is still in effect), Namibia (birthplace of Shilol Jolie-Pitt), and South Africa. I will be able to assess the dire situation in Zimbabwe and South Africa for myself.

"Catch A Fire," based on a real hero and true circumstances that happened in 1980, confused me. Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) is a foreman at the Secunda oil refinery plant. He has a good job. In his community, he is lucky. He has steady work, a wife, 2 small girls, supports his mother, and coaches soccer. But there is unrest in South Africa.

Due to the unjust stranglehold of state-sponsored Apartheid, the only means of change is with guerrilla warfare and acts of terrorism. The white-owned refinery, that employs black people, is being sabotaged. Bombs are going off. After there is an explosion at the plant, Chamusso and many others are arrested.

Chamusso is innocent of any wrongdoing but his alibi doesn't hold up. He has lied to Nic Vios (Tim Robbins) the anti-terrorism official working for the company. It is Vos' job to stop the attacks on the company's property. His tactics are brutal and there is torture. But if Chamusso had just admitted he was with his mistress and their young son, he would have been let go. Visited by Vios, Chamusso's mistress doesn't say anything to save her man.

Vios and his goons promptly arrest Chamusso's wife Precious (Bonnie Henna). Entire families of suspects are rounded up and tortured. Some die.

Vios reluctantly lets Chamusso and his wife go, but Chamusso decides to leave his wife, girlfriend, and three children and join the African National Congress. Precious is forced to move to a hut and get a job. The ANC wants to rid South Africa of Apartheid and transfer foreign ownership of land and white-developed industry to its native people.

Unlike Al-Qaeda, the ANC is adamant: No civilian casualties.

According to the research I did online, as things stand today – October 2006 - in South Africa, "the government may broaden land seizures in order to boost black land ownership, but denied that it was considering any Zimbabwe-style land grabs (called the 'Zimbabwean model'). Zimbabwe's land reform has involved the seizure of property from thousands of white commercial farmers, starting in 2000."

According to another recent Reuters article, "Zimbabwe's political troubles have led to its isolation from the West and triggered a bruising economic crisis, highlighted by inflation of over 1,000 percent and a crippling foreign trade shortage. Zimbabwe's agricultural output has been hit by years of drought and the flight of scores of the most productive white commercial farmers, many of whom had their farms violently seized by the government to give to blacks."

Chamusso's unfair treatment radicalizes him. He trains at an ANC guerrilla camp. He is being watched by Vios' men. His knowledge of the refinery places him in a perfect situation to organize and then carry out another terrorist assault on the plant.

Chamusso's actions dramatized the plight of South Africans oppressed by white foreigners and the culture of Apartheid. His story, and the fiercely sincere portrayal by Luke, appears romanticized and muddled. Why didn't Chamusso just tell the truth immediately? The damage done to the refinery certainly required investigation.

Chamusso is considered a hero in South Africa and his story influenced the end of Apartheid. The real Chamusso appears at the end of the film and, indeed, he comes across immediately as a charismatic, kind man. I liked him.

Since director Phillip Noyce got Tim Robbins (doing a very nice accent) to co-star, and apparently Robbins did not want to add another really nasty sadist to his resume, Vios is shown as a family man who even takes Chamusso from his dank cell to enjoy a family dinner in the country. He sings two songs! He loves his wife and children and is very concerned about their welfare in the volatile political climate in South Africa. Vios has morals and is clearly troubled over his investigative techniques. He even tries to redeem himself by releasing Chamusso and his wife.

However, isn't it odd that the real Chamusso calls Vios – on camera - "a monster."

That monster was in "Midnight Express."