Cry Freedom
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Actor: Evelyn Sithole, John Matshikiza, Josette Simon, Juanita Waterman, Wabei SiyolweBrand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 157 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-02-23
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Cry Freedom
DVD Review: ..."As Men Strive For Right....."
Summary: 5 Stars
Fresh from his 1983 Oscar triumph with the film, "Gandhi", director Richard Attenborough tackles the more timely topic of Apartheid in this stirring 1987 drama.
The always-spectacular Denzel Washington and Kevin Kline have the accents down pat in their lead roles as South African Freedom Fighter, Steven Biko, and journalist Donald Woods.
Washington's interpretation of Biko's dignity in the face of the vicious symbols of White authority is more than highly reminiscent of Ben Kingsley's performance in "Gandhi". It is marvelous to watch Washington and Kline interact with each other.
The story begins as dawn arises over a desperately impoverished township in the 1970s. Despite their marginalized existance in their own land, the Black Africans have a certain dignity about them, which makes them truly noble.
Soon, whatever calm existed amid the squalor is shattered by armoured cars of the White South African police, who maraud the township, and attack the innocent, unarmed occupants in a moment that evokes pure outrage.
We meet the White South African journalist destined to help turn the country around while hearing an inaccurate narrative of the events in the aforementioned township, as printed in the "Daily Dispatch", for which Woods is the editor.
Donald Woods, whose family had lived in South Africa for five generations, considers himself a liberal where the issue of Apartheid is concerned. But his path in life begins to change when one Dr. Ramphele (an exotically beautiful, and beautifully spoken Josette Simon) courageously arrives at Woods' office to personally express displeasure about about the paper's commentary about her friend, Steven Biko, and personally invites Woods to meet him.
Woods is led to a community center for Blacks where Biko's wife, Ntsiki (Juanita Waterman), with her beautiful son, Nkosanthi (George Lovell) in tow, escorts him to a shady area of a yard, where her banned husband can first be viewed in silhouette behind he leaves of a tree.
We see the contrast in Woods' own life --his lovely home in an affluent suburb with his wife, Wendy (Penelope Wilton), five children(Kate Hardie as Jane, Graeme Taylor as Dillon, hamish Stuart Walker as Gavin Adam Stuart Walker as Duncan, and Spring Stuart Walker as Mary), maid Evilina(Sophie Mgcina), and dog, Charlie.
Biko takes Woods on a trip through the Black townships, and introduces him to those helping in the Resistance Movement, most notably, Father Kani(Zakes Mokae). Soon, Woods' photographer, Ken(Kevin McNally, who later appeared with Kline in "De-Lovely") is accompanying Woods and Biko to soccer games that turn into Black political meetings, despite Steve's being a banned person, and both ken and Donald bravely join Biko in his quest to end Apartheid. Soon, Woods is facing he same risks as Biko as he brings Blacks to work in his news room to report the news about the Black community more accurately.
A raid on the Black community center led by one Captain De Wet (Timothy West) prompts Woods to speak with Pretoria's High Commissioner, James Kruger (John Thaw), which does more harm than good, as the police begin to harass Woods' family.
In the meantime, Biko continues to deny White authorities, practicing his belief in his own freedom and his right to travel wherever he wants to in his own land.
Tragically, the law catches up to Biko, and when he is beaten to death by the South African police-- who claim he died during a hunger strike--Woods must expose the truth about what happened---not just locally, but before the whole world.
After attending the beautiful and moving ceremony that is Steven Biko's funeral, Woods learns that he is a banned person, as was Steven; he is sentenced to five years where he cannot write anything publically or privately, nor can he be in the company of more than one person at a time aside from those of his immediate family. He decides that his family must leave South Africa because a publishing company in London wants his story on Steve. His wife objects to this at first. But when the attacks against her family mount, including threatening phone calls, vandalism, and finally, the delivery of chemically contaminated T-shirts to the children, she agrees, and the family find ways around police surveillance to become the 1970s answer to the Von Trapp family, leaving behind a comfortable life under a racist regime from which they might have easily benefitted to convey the story of Biko's struggle to the world.
The scenes of the 1976 massacre of schoolchildren are brutal, but important, as is the lesson provided by this film about how racial injustice does not stay compartmentalized to those for whom it is intended.
Among those helping him reach Lesotho are his friend, Father Kani, at one point, the South African police themselves, as Woods is incognito, and later, there is even assistance from a fellow bearing the rather symbolic name of Moses (Joseph Marcell).
The family's departure from their troubled homeland is almost as triumphant as the onscreen portrayal of the Von Trapp's exodus from Hitler's Austria in "The Sound of Music", but trailed by a very solemn message of a then-still-existing problem in South Africa.
As a coda to this story, the film resulted in a lifelong friendship between the real Donald Woods and his portrayer.
Some may feel that the African actors should have had more screen time. But even so, with Washington's amiably dignified performance counterbalanced by Kline's scholarly and nuanced style, both actors can feel satisfied that the making of this film was among the most important two hours they ever spent onsceen.
Description of Cry Freedom
The tension and terror that is present-day South Africa is powerfully portrayed in director Richard Attenborough's sweeping story of black activist Stephen Biko (Denzel Washington) and a liberal white newspaper editor who risks his own life to bring Biko's message to the world. After learning of apartheid's true horrors through Biko's eyes, editor Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) discovers that his friend has been silenced by the police. Determined not to let Biko's message go unheard, Woods undertakes a perilous quest to escape South Africa and bring Biko's remarkable tale of courage to the world. The riveting, true story offers a stirring account of man at his most evil and most heroic. Starring: Kevin Kline, Denzel Washington, Penelope Wilton, John Hargreaves, Alec McCowen, Kevin McNally, Zakes Mokae, Juanita Waterman Directed by: Richard AttenboroughSir Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) directs this semi-successful drama about the relationship between South African black activist Steven Biko and a sympathetic newspaper editor (Kevin Kline). Attenborough's typical sweep of the life and times of Biko is particularly rewarding in the first half of the film, but once the leader comes to his untimely end at the hands of white police, the story shifts entirely to Kline's character and the latter's efforts to escape the country with his family. That change is a tactical error in the script that robs the film of its initial power and makes the arguably unfortunate choice of emphasizing the destiny of a white character when Biko himself deserved an entire feature for his story and causes. --Tom Keogh
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