Richard Attenborrough during his directorial career became specialist for the biographies of grand historical figures. Among those, the most successful was Gandhi, epic about the legendary leader of Indian independence movement, that would ultimately bring him Oscars. In 1987 he tried to repeat the same feat in Cry Freedom, film dedicated to another famous freedom fighter.
The film is based on Biko and Asking for Trouble, two books by South African journalist Donald Woods. He appears as the character, played by Kevin Kline. The plot begins in 1975 South Africa, during the time when the country was ruled by white minority regime which enforced Apartheid, brutal regime of racial segregation against majority black population. The plot begins when government starts demolishing black slums, which brings attention of Woods, who, despite being white, is opposed to Apartheid and works as chief editor of country’s leading liberal newspaper. Woods is also intrigued by Steve Biko (played by Denzel Washington), young black activist who represents Black Consciousness Movement which, unlike earlier generation of anti-apartheid activists, advocates that Apartheid can be brought down if black South Africans rely on themselves rather than their well-meaning but patronising white allies. Woods is quite critical of such policy and considers Biko extreme, but, after being invited to spend some time in black townships, not only accept Biko’s views but two men become close friends. Biko is persecuted by the government and in 1977 gets arrested by police, severely beaten during the interrogation and dies from his injuries. Woods is enraged by the event and tries to expose the officials who are responsible, but his efforts only result in him being put to house arrest and his family subjected to threats and intimidation. In 1978 he decides to escapes South Africa dressed as a priest and reaches Lesotho from where he would, together with family, seek political asylum in United Kingdom.
Cry Freedom was made at the time while South Africa was still under Apartheid regime. This created difficulties for Attenborrough and his production team, because they had to use locations of Zimbabwe, neighbouring country which had ended its white minority rule years earlier. On the other hand, film’s anti-apartheid stance was more relevant at that moment than praise of Indian independence struggle in Gandhi, which had achieved its goal decades earlier. Attenborrough failed to repeat its success, which can be explained with issue of South African apartheid regime still looking too delicate in the context of Cold War, at least in the film with such high budget and lofty ambitions. Critics were, however, mostly sympathetic to the film and their praises are quite justified when it comes to Attenborrough’s directorial skills. He handles complicated story well, film is never boring despite having more than two and half hours of running time, mass scenes featuring thousands of extras are handled very well, soundtrack by George Fenton works very well and, finally, Cry Freedom features great cast dominated by dependable British character actors, with John Thaw leaving biggest impression as Jimmy Kruger, South Africa’s notorious minister of justice. The most prominent members of the cast are American, though. Kevin Kline delivers memorable performance as nominal protagonist, a mild-mannered intellectual whose views are challenged and who is at the end forced to sacrifice personal safety, livelihood and comfortable upper middle class existence for the sake of doing the right thing. Kline handled his role well also due to extensive preparations which included meeting and befriending real Woods, who was still living in exile at the time. But his performance was easily overshadowed by Denzel Washington, whose powerful portrayal of Biko is one of the most memorable in the long and illustrious career. Washington, who invested a lot of effort to look and talk like Biko, received his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for this role.
Some critics at the time didn’t like Cry Freedom because of what they saw as major flaw in its narrative structure. John Briley script begins as biography of Steve Biko, but remains so only in first half, until said characters dies. Afterwards, it becomes story of Donald Woods and his adventurous journey to escape political oppression. In later decades, it became quite fashionable for increasingly “woke” critics and scholar to name Cry Freedom as the prime example of White Saviour narrative in modern Western cinema. However, even Attenborrough was aware of the issue. The emphasis on Woods can be explained as an attempt to give audience some sort of a happy end to the grim story which didn’t have one until Mandela’s return from Robben Island few years later. But even in that segment Attenborrough doesn’t want to let audience forget what the issue and what the stakes are; it contains the flashback featuring Biko and reconstruction of 1976 Soweto Uprising, when white police massacred hundreds of protesting black schoolchildren. This makes the ending more powerful, and Cry Freedom can be recommended as one of the better history lessons to be found on big screen.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
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