Cry Freedom

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

Who is Steve Biko?
Cry Freedom and the flight for freedom

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Directed by Richard Attenborough
Starring: Kevin Kline as Donald Woods
Denzel Washington as Steve Biko
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It is 1975 and we are in Cape Province, South Africa. Amidst the violence of white militia persecuting panicking and hapless black communities, Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom introduces us to 1970s apartheid-era South Africa.

The movie tackles the story of Daily Dispatch editor Donald Woods, who is white, as he struggles to reveal the truth about South Africa’s oppressive anti-racial government, and its silencing of those who oppose such a system. His main subject is Steve Biko, his friend, and a black activist who had stood up to the South African government to raise black consciousness among his countrymen. The story is told in confusing flashbacks between the present, the past, and the future, and it takes a while for the viewer to get used to recognizing the time frame in which the scene actually occurs. It’s like a history book narration of the events, chopped up and re-assembled to achieve an artistic effect. And in some ways, it does work. The violence in the opening scene is eventually explained in the final sequence, completing a full circle and simulating a sense of closure for the viewer.

But in most ways, the rearrangement doesn’t work. For example, it is only half way through the latter part of the movie when the uninitiated finally understands who Steve Biko is. There are scenes that seem to be lost, like that of a black female editor berating Donald Woods for an editorial he wrote. The editorial’s topic was not mentioned, nor was the significance of who the black female editor is mentioned. (The scene exists to show us that Woods was initially openly critical of Biko’s pro-black stance, but Woods eventually supports Biko’s cause.) It is also with befuddlement that the viewer struggles to find out the significance of who Steve Biko is, what his connection with Woods is, and why the South African government “banned” them both.

Activist Stephen Bantu ‘Steve’ Biko believes that black men should not be second rate citizens in their own country. He establishes several medical clinics, patronized by black citizens and run by black doctors. He also encourages black students not to study Afrikaans, believing that this national language oppresses the unique identity of the black people.

After Biko dies suspiciously, Woods makes it his mission to expose the truth regarding Biko’s death. In the process, Biko’s advocacy for black consciousness is given newspaper space, and the South African government bristles at this disturbance of the status quo. Woods plans to go to the US to tell his story, but is stopped at the airport by the government. He is then “banned” for five years, forbidden to travel and, with the exception of his family, forbidden to meet up with more than one person at a time.

With his actions severely limited, and with no way to get Biko’s story across, he resorts to writing a book. Before his five-year sentence is up, he and his friends devise a way to smuggle him across to Zimbabwe, seek asylum, and get his book published. Disguised as a priest, Woods gets through different situations, and it is through his moments of difficulty, that Biko’s cry for freedom, and its need to be told, inspires him to move forward and trudge on. By January 1978, Woods and his family finally succeed in escaping from Africa. When Woods and his wife finally reunite in Zimbabwe, after a night of tense escape, Woods kisses his wife and says, “Welcome to exile.”

And exiled they are. But they do succeed in letting the world know the oppression in South Africa. However, the movie tempers that positive news by showing how white militia indiscriminately shoot down young black students rallying against using Afrikaans. The violence is shocking, and reminds the viewer that South Africa’s struggle for freedom isn’t over yet.

Kevin Kline delivers a sufficient portrayal of Donald Woods. Denzel Washington is superb as Steve Biko, downplaying his usually handsome and cultured self to deliver the goods. His Steve Biko is witty and charismatic, but unfortunately and quite ironically, his screen time is slightly limited. Penelope Wilton who plays Donald’s wife Wendy Woods, also deserves mention for effectively showing the strength and complex emotions that the wife of a man like Donald Woods must need to support him and their six children. British thespian Sir Richard Attenborough, excellent actor and Oscar-winning director of Gandhi, directs this historical drama.

The tagline of this 1987 movie is ”The true story of the friendship that shook South Africa and awakened the world.” It is a true story, and in the end both Biko’s and Woods’ voices joined all the cries for freedom that eventually forced South Africa to officially end apartheid in 1990. Too bad that in this movie, it somehow loses its focus on Biko and concentrates a lot on Woods’ flight for freedom, not even devoting much screen time to the vaunted friendship between the two. Nevertheless it still remains to be a story that should be told, and the world is a whole lot better for it.