Cry Freedom ( film)
Cry Freedom is a 1987 feature
film directed by Richard Attenborough, set in the late 1970s, during the apartheid
era of South Africa. The film was shot in neighbouring Zimbabwe, and, although
not banned in South Africa, cinemas showing the films were faced with bomb threats.
According to the Internet Movie Database, the film was seized by authorities on
July 29, 1988. In some cases, there were reports that prints of the films were
wrenched off the cinema projectors and the film remained unseen in South Africa
until 1991.
Josette Simon - Dr. Ramphele
Wabei Siyolwe
- Tenjy
John Matshikiza - Mapetla
Juanita Waterman - Ntsiki Biko
Evelyn Sithole - Nurse at clinic
Xoliswa Sithole - Nurse at clinic
James
Coine - Young boy
Kevin Kline - Donald Woods
Kevin McNally - Ken
Albert Ndinda - Alec
Andrew Whaley - Sub-Editor
Shelley Borkum - Woods' receptionist
Denzel Washington
- Steve Biko
Penelope Wilton - Wendy Woods
Kate Hardie - Jane Woods
Graeme Taylor - Dillon Woods
Adam Stuart Walker - Duncan Woods
Hamish Stuart Walker - Gavin Woods
Spring Stuart Walker - Mary Woods
Sophie Mgcina - Evalina
Jim Findley - Peter Jones
Patricia Gumede -
Shebeen Queen
Angela Gavaza - Shebeen Queen's niece
Nocebo Mlambo -
Aunt
Walter Matemavi - Nephew
Clement Muchachi - Father
Ruth Chinamando
- Mother
Basil Chidyamathamba - Brother-in-law
Marcy Mushore - Niece
Alton Kumalo - Speaker
Lawrence Simbarashe - Informer
Timothy West
- Captain De Wet
Carl Chase - Policeman
William Morgan
Sheppard - Policeman (as Morgan Sheppard)
Tichatonga Mazhindu - Dilima
Zakes Mokae - Father Kani
John Thaw - Kruger
Miles
Anderson - Lemick
Neil McPherson - Lemick's assistant
Hepburn Graham
- Soga
Claude Maredza - 1st Rugby player
Carlton Chance - 2nd Rugby
player
Glen Murphy - 1st Secuity guard
Russell Keith
Grant - 2nd Security guard
Munyaradzi Kanaventi - Samora
Biko
George Lovell - Nkosinathi Biko
Andrew McCulloch - Policeman Nel
Graham Fletcher-Cook - Nel's partner (as Graham Fletcher
Cook)
Karen Drury - Young secretary
Niven Boyd - 1st Roadblock policeman
Tony Vogel - 2nd Roadblock policeman
Christopher Hurst - 3rd Roadblock
policeman
Gerald Sim - Police doctor
Peter Cartwright - Senior police
officer
Gary Whelan - Police sergeant
Dudley Dickin - Nationalist Party
delegate
David Trevena - Mortician
Badi Uzzaman - Mortician's assistant
Robert Phillips - Speaker at funeral
Fishoo Tembo - Biko's brother
Peggy Marsh - Helen Suzman
Gwyneth Strong - Girl at funeral
Julian Glover
- Don Card
John Hargreaves - Bruce
Philip Bretherton - Major Boshoff
Paul Herzberg - Beukes
Robert MacNamara - Security policeman
Hans
Sittig - Security policeman
Kimpton Mativenga - Black security policeman
David Henry - Afrikaner farmer
Michael Turner - Judge Boshoff
Ian
Richardson - State Prosecutor
Mawa Makondo - Jason
Kalie Hanekom - Magistrate
Prins
Paul Jerrico - Sergeant Louw (as Paul Jerricho)
Star Ncube - 1st
Prisoner
David Guwaza - 2nd Prisoner
Tommy Buson - Tami
Joseph
Marcell - Moses
Hilary Minster - 1st Passport Control officer
James
Aubrey - 2nd Passport Control officer
Peter Cary - White frontier policeman
Dominic Kanaventi - Black frontier policeman
Sam Mathambo
- Lesotho passport officer
Walter Muparutsa - Lesotho businessman
Judy Cornwell - Receptionist (as Judy Cornwall)
Alec McCowen - Acting High
Commissioner
Gwen Watford - Wendy's mother
John Paul - Wendy's stepfather
Louis Mahoney - Lesotho government official
Michael Graham Cox - 3rd
Passport Control officer
John Hartley - 4th Passport Control officer
Simon Shumba - Young Lesotho official
Garrick Hagon - McElrea
Nick Tate - Richie
Marilyn Poole - Acting High Commissioner's
wife
William Marlowe - Police captain at Soweto
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leonard Boucher - (uncredited)
Ian McNeice - (uncredited)
Plot
Summary
Cry Freedom is
based on the true story of Steve Biko (Denzel Washington), the charismatic South
African Black Consciousness Movement leader, and Donald Woods (Kevin Kline), the
liberal white editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper. After Biko was arrested
and killed while in police custody, Woods wrote a book entitled Biko exposing
police complicity in his death. For him to get the book published, he had to escape
from South Africa. This book, along with Woods's autobiography "Asking For
Trouble," became the basis for this film.
When Biko first appears in the film, he has already been "banned" by the South African government. "Banning" meant he was not allowed to be in the same room with more than one other person outside his immediate family, and not allowed to write anything for either public or private consumption. Additionally, he was not allowed to leave his defined banning area. Initially, Woods is critical of Biko's views and actions in his newspaper but is persuaded to meet with him. Biko invites Woods to visit a black township to see the impoverished conditions and to witness the effect of the government imposed restrictions which make up the apartheid system. Woods begins to agree with Biko's desire for a South Africa where blacks have the same opportunities and freedoms as those enjoyed by the white population. As Woods comes to understand Biko's point of view, a friendship develops between them.
Following Biko's arrest and death while in custody, Woods works to expose police complicity in his death. He meets with Jimmy Kruger, the South African Minister of Justice, but his efforts to expose the truth lead to his own banning, and Woods and his family are targeted in a campaign of dirty tricks by the security police. Eventually Woods is able to escape to Lesotho, disguised as a priest. From there he is flown to Botswana with the help of Bruce Haigh, a controversial Australian diplomat who used his diplomatic immunity to help him.
The film
ends with a long list of anti-apartheid activists who died while in police custody,
together with the causes of death given by the police at the time. These include
two who were said to have fallen down stairs, and many who were claimed as "suicidal
hangings."
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