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Plot Summary
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.
Credits
Director
Screenwriter
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
81%- Reviews Counted: 21
- Fresh: 17
- Rotten: 4
- Average Rating: 6.5/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: These are fine methods for delivering a civics lesson, which to some extent is what the Attenborough approach is all about. But for a film that aspires to entertain as well as educate, they are less helpful.
Fresh: Washington does a remarkable job of transforming himself into the articulte and mesmerizing black nationalist leader, whose refusal to keep silent led to his death in police custody and a subsequent coverup.
Fresh: Biko was unflappable, logical and witty in life, and Washington conveys that solidity onscreen.
Fresh: Cry Freedom is a sincere and valuable movie, and despite my fundamental reservations about it, I think it probably should be seen.
Customer Reviews
Powerful and suspenseful
Great acting and an important story.
loved this movie
we watched it in my social studies class when we were learning about aphartied & i loved it. it is so good. this is one of the movies that we watched that i really wanted to watch again.
Stunning Impact
I rented this movie about 15 times when it first came out on tape. I guess a lot of us in the 'western world' needed something like this to show us how horrible the policies in South Africa were in the time period portrayed. If you need to get an idea of what happened to Mr. Biko you can back up the movie with two songs. One is by Tom Paxton and the other by Peter Gabriel, both available here on iTunes. I cannot recommend this movie enough. There is no attempt to sugarcoat any of the facts, even within the context of a movie adaptation. South Africa is now one of the most stable democracies in Africa, because the country produced so many blacks and whites who did not want to cover up what happened, but even more to discover HOW to live with each other and survive as a viable culture.
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- $14.99
- Genre: Drama
- Released: 1999
- © 1987 Universal City Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.