Cry Freedom (DVD)

This film made a real impression on me. It highlights all that was evil and inhuman in South Africa, during the days of apartheid. It also expresses the strength and power that comes from true friendship. That may sound a bit over dramatic to some readers but if you are a sensitive, humane being, you can't help being affected by this film. The story is based on Donald Woods' book about Steve Biko and himself, and their 'unconventional friendship' that broke all the laws of South Africa. The tension and terror of South Africa during those years is told through the eyes of Woods and his friend, Biko. Richard ...

Looking back, this was one of the films that really shook up the way I thought about things, and as such, I can only recommend it most highly. It is based on Donald Woods' autobiographical novel, and is the story, in two distinct parts really. Firstly, his friendship, or more a relationship of mutual respect which grows between him, a white liberal journalist in 70s South Africa, and Steve Biko, the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa during some of her more shameful periods in history. The film, in which Kevin Kline plays Woods, and Denzel Washington plays Biko, addresses many of the issues of apartheid and the ...

This film follows the ups and downs in the South African history, centred around a white journalist and a black man who is imprisoned for something that he did not do.. The film is very powerful, and Kevin Kline is excellent as the journalist caught between what he knows is right, and what the politics of the country he is in are saying. Gripping, complelling and very dramatic this film is quite long, but for those studying South African history, or for those who do not want the plight of people in South Africa over dramatised this is a solid and fair film. ...