
          The Struggle Goes to Hollywood
          By HRWHRW
          Vol. 9, No. 5, 1987, p. 39
          
          In the eyes of a South African filmmaker who has seen Cry
Freedom  while visiting the United States recently, Richard
Attenborough's epic film about Donald Woods and Stephen Biko is a
technical success but flawed in its judgment.
          From her perspective, the film, which is currently drawing large
audiences in major U.S. cities, has the welcome potential of showing
millions the crushing reality of apartheid, but it obscures the basis
of Biko's life and, ultimately, the reasons he died.
          "I'm very positive about the actual film. It is beautifully made
and Denzel Washington is extremely good as Biko. Kevin Kline also
gives a good performance as Woods. But Cry Freedom  is
about the education of a white liberal, not about Steve Biko and his
role in South Africa."
          She believes that Woods, by structuring his book Asking For
Trouble as he did, and Attenborough, by using woods's book as
the basis for Cry Freedom, have done "the antithesis
of what Steve stood for. The story of Woods may be heroic, but not
compared to that of Biko and other blacks who seldom have the
opportunities to express their own stories."
          Shaun Johnson, reviewing the film in the Nov. 20-26 issue of the
Weekly Mail, a dissident newspaper published in
Johannesburg, arrives at essentially the same point but is less
critical of Attenborough. "Cry Freedom is surely the
biggest-budget, widest-angled, most-marketed anti-apartheid statement
the world has ever seen, and is likely to see for quite some time. It
is beautifully crafted. It is Donald Wood's story, played under the
shadow of Steve Biko."
          Johnson observes that Attenborough has produced a "story for
foreigners and the reaction of someone in the midlands or midwest is
what will decide its fate...in Cry Freedom, the struggle goes to
Hollywood, or, more correctly, Hollywood goes to Harare."
          The South African filmmaker said the American audience she was with
appeared to react powerfully to Cry Freedom. "It's terrific that
the film is going to be shown. Audiences will know a great deal more
about Biko and about prison, torture and the absolute ruthlessness of
apartheid. The security police in the film are marvelously authentic
in that sense. But in terms of how Attenborough has structured the
film, it may upset many black South Africans who have grown tired of
their lives being portrayed through the experiences of whites."
          On that basis, the film can be criticized as a reflection of the
evil it attempts to illuminate. The question is whether it was proper
for Attenborough to use a white character to tell a black story. The
director has responded to such criticism by saying he couldn't raise
$22 million to tell Biko's story, which merely feeds the argument.
          Weekly Mail reviewer Johnson liked the film for what
it is, saying "Biko's full story, will (and must) be recorded
elsewhere. Let this slice stand."
          The South African filmmaker wishes Attenborough had been more
courageous. "I think the error lies in misreading the responses of
the world's audiences. It is the role of the filmmaker to advance new
insights. Biko's personality, his youth, his humor, his image, would
have carried a film. The western world would have accepted him as a
hero, though ironically neither he nor the black consciousness
movement wanted heroes at all. They were quite an extraordinary group
of people. Biko was an outstanding figure, but others had equally good
contributions."
          Despite her reservations, she applauds Attenborough's skill in
making a superb movie, which arrives at a time when it is much
needed.
          "At the moment we have a state of emergency in South Africa and
Americans are getting no news. It is against the law to film any
police or security action without official permission. The fact is,
there are still thousands in prison and the security police can still
pick up anybody they like anytime they please. One needs to remind
people that it is happening still and Cry Freedom is a
timely replacement for the sort of news that ought to be coming out of
South Africa."
          Among the most powerful of the film's images are the names
scrolling across the screen at the end, listing eighty other activists
besides Biko who have died over the past decade from "suicide" or
"falling down stairs" while in the hands of security police.
          In late November, South African censors made the surprising and
welcome announcement that Cry Freedom could be shown
uncut in South Africa. Some apartheid watchers interpret the move as a
gamble on the part of the Botha government to win points abroad by
trying to show that the film will have minimal adverse effect in South
Africa.
        