CRY FREEDOM- FILM
REWIEW.
Along
with Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe, Steve Biko was one of the most
important anti-apartheid leaders in mid-20th century South Africa.
Liberal
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 Gandhihe created, projects an almost identical personality on to
this icon. But the Gandhian in South Africa was Mandela, not Biko.
