Dave Matthews & Dave Reynolds "Cry Freedom"
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
We decided that overall, Cry Freedom was a pretty accurate representation of historical events. Although we disagreed on the portrayal of Biko’s personality, and the time spent on Donald Woods and his escape, the film got the public to think about the apartheid. We believe that is the most important task of a film, to force the viewers to question their beliefs and to inform them of injustices that are ongoing in their society.
Cooper’s Angels Review of the film “Cry Freedom”
Entertainment Grade: B+
Historical Grade: C
MOVIE REVIEWS
Cry Freedom: Charting the struggle
Cry Freedom tells the story of 1970s apartheid
South African newspaper editor and anti-apartheid activist Donald Woods, who gained international recognition with the film Cry Freedom, has died at the age of 67.
Richard Attenborough's ambitious 1987 epic, Cry Freedom, is seen as an overview of conditions in South Africa at the height of apartheid.
This was a second biographical movie for Attenborough - this time about black leader Steve Biko - after the Oscar-sweeping success of Gandhi.
 Donald Woods laid flowers at a statue of Democracy in London |
Denzel Washington memorably plays Biko, a former student leader who founded the Black Consciousness Movement in 1969 and gave up medical training to devote himself to the struggle.
Biko's message inspired a generation. He is portrayed in the film is as a charismatic leader in the model of Martin Luther King.
But though the film does tell Biko's story, it is essentially aimed at white audiences and as such concerns itself more with the story of Donald Woods.
Woods, played by Kevin Kline, was part of a group of progressive South African journalists which helped establish truthful and objective press, exposing the crimes of apartheid.
Cry Freedom tells the story of how Woods' friendship with Biko roused his political consciousness.
 Attenborough is acclaimed for his biographical movies |
Woods eventually had to flee to Lesotho on New Year's Eve 1977, dressed as a priest, after Biko's death.
Biko died from brain injuries after 21 days in police detention.
Cry Freedom had the full collaboration of the real-life Donald and Mrs Woods.
The movie divided South Africa commentators.
Some said that Woods, portrayed in the film as a prominent member of the white liberal establishment, would have been a target for Biko's campaigns.
Others wondered why a film that was supposed to tell the story of a black civil rights leader focused so much on his white friend.
But most agreed that the film, particularly the scenes of schoolchildren uprising in Soweto, packed a powerful emotional punch.
Cry Freedom: Richard Attenborough makes a Mandela of Steve Biko
Attenborough's drama gives us a saintly martyr in place of a vibrant hero. And then pronounces his name wrong
Director: Richard Attenborough
Entertainment grade: C+
History grade: C
Along with Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko was one of the most important anti-apartheid leaders in mid-20th century South Africa.
Politics
Toned down … Washington and KlineLiberal newspaper editor Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) has convinced himself that Steve Biko (Denzel Washington) is an anti-white racist. Biko has been "banned" by the regime – meaning that he cannot associate with more than one person outside his immediate family at any one time, nor travel outside a specific area. Woods goes to meet him. In the film, Woods politely objects to Biko's message, and Biko responds with a gentle sermon on the plight of black South Africans. It's considerably toned down from the authentic version recounted in Woods's memoir, in which Woods lost his temper, shouting: "I don't have to bloody well apologise for being born white!" Biko's real-life response was good-natured, but more powerful and confrontational than the one in the film. He explained that he tried to discourage hatred of any sort, but his priority was to liberate black people – not to worry about the hurt feelings of white liberals. Director Richard Attenborough, much lauded for the Gandhi he created, projects an almost identical personality on to this icon. But the Gandhian in South Africa was Mandela, not Biko.
Race
Not dull in real life … discussing how to end apartheid"We don't want to be forced into your society," says Biko. "I'm going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I'm not going to be what you want me to be." But while the film lets Biko say that, it strives to present him as it wants him to be – humble, chaste, non-violent – not who he was. The real Biko spoke fierily, wittily and colloquially, peppering his speech with "hey, man". In the film, Biko talks like a slightly dull vicar from Suffolk. The real Biko's simultaneous long-term relationships with a wife and a lover, not to mention dalliances with many other women, are all but airbrushed out. "One cannot give a full account of the personality of Steve without mentioning his powerful sexuality," the real Woods wrote. The film tries, and is the poorer for it. So this movie, honouring a black hero who staked his identity on refusing to conform to white liberal expectations, redesigns him ... to conform to white liberal expectations. Oops. Alanis Morrissette, if you're reading – this is actually ironic.
Law
Justice denied … Denzel WashingtonWoods goes to the country garden estate of police minister Jimmy Kruger (John Thaw, who is superb). Woods asks Kruger to lay off persecuting Biko. Kruger plays nice at the time, but later secretly turns on Woods – sending the police after him instead. Meanwhile, Biko is arrested. He sustains a suspicious head injury, and dies in custody. Shamelessly, the authorities claim he did it himself, with a hunger strike. "Biko's death leaves me cold," Kruger snarls at a press conference. This line, unpleasantly enough, is accurate. The pronunciation is not. Almost everyone in the cast (except Washington) mispronounces the name Biko. The man himself said it bee-core, to rhyme with "seesaw" – not bee-koh, to rhyme with "neato".
Violence
Lucky escape … Kevin KlineWoods, too, is banned by the regime. He eventually flees the country. At the very end of the film, he has a flashback to the Soweto uprising where, on 16 June 1976, police opened fire on protesting school students. Recreated here, the scenes of the massacre are devastating. They are also jarring, because they're so much more dramatic than the last hour of the film, which has focused on how Woods slipped past his ban and got out of South Africa. Certainly, Woods's experience was remarkable. But when the viewer is suddenly presented with hundreds of children being shot in the streets, you've got to wonder whether "white guy escapes" is the story most in need of telling here.
Verdict
Preaching to the converted … Denzel Washingtonhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jun/10/cry-freedom-richard-attenborough-reel-history
A well-meaning film about the white liberal experience in South Africa – but, if you want to know about Steve Biko, look elsewhere.
Quotes from Movie Reviews
Janet Maslin from The New York Times, on November 6, 1987, said,
“...it devotes very little time to the day-to-day indignities created by apartheid.”
"Most of all, it can be appreciated for what it tries to communicate about heroism, loyalty and leadership, about the horrors of apartheid, about the martyrdom of a rare man. Although these thoughts don't come through clearly enough, they can still be heard."
Terry Trucco, Special to the New York Times, said this when interviewing Denzel Washington about his role in Cry Freedom, "Indeed, Mr. Washington has been praised for making Steve Biko seem real despite the movie's rather stilted script. Not much personal detail was available, in part because of the Government's ban on Mr. Biko's movements....'I knew the basics about Steve Biko, who he was, how he died,' Denzel Washington said. 'I also knew I was definitely against apartheid, but obviously I'm a lot more educated now and a lot more willing to do something about it than before.'"
Rita Kempley, a Washington Post Staff Writer, said this on November 6, 1987, "Attenborough has been criticized for the second half, an action thriller that tags a white hero onto what some felt was a black hero's story."
Desson Howe from the Washington Post gave a hard critique when he said this,
"When Biko dies halfway through, so does the movie....Attenborough tries to rally with Biko flashbacks and a depiction of the Soweto massacre. But the 1976 slaughter of black schoolchildren (which happened a year before Biko's death and would have been excellent material for Kline and Washington to experience together) is chronologically and dramatically out of place. And the flashbacks only remind you of whom you'd rather be watching....But Attenborough's aims are more academic and political than dramatic. By following an initially wrongheaded white character, he clearly wants to reach out to similar audiences. "Cry" could have reached further."
