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Cry Freedom

Cry Freedom

List Price: $14.98
Your Price: $13.48
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Historical Masterpiece!!
Review: The first time I saw this movie was as a hard to please teen in High School. It was during the hot Aussie summmer months and all myself and my fellow classmates wanted to was install some airconditioning, put our feet up and sip lemonade. What we didn't want to do was watch yet another boring tear jerker about the harsher sides of life in a country that we couldn't give two hoots about. What we got was a lesson in life.

From the moment Cry Freedom began I was hooked. Not only does it present to you superb landscapes and two famous Hollywood actors, but it also gave you a tremendous insight into the horrors of Apartheid. This movie was a factual account of the lives of Bantu Steven Biko (the Black South African Activist who was prepared to die for his beliefs) and white South African newspaper editor Donald Woods. The movie was based on the published novel written by Woods himself which was smuggled out of South Africa to England where it could be read by the public (the books by Woods and this movie were both banned materials in South Africa). It is a sad and honest account of the frustrating way of life for a black person living under the thumb of white supremists. Hopefully others will see this numbing account and allow their eyes to be opened to the injustice continuing around the world.

This is one of my all time favourite movies. One of the most powerful stories told on the silver screen.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It was an excellent movie.
Review: This movie brought out the glamour in an African society that laments in the shadows of its problems. This movie, however, looses steam after Biko's death and funeral; moving into the life story of a "passionate" newspaper-man trying to escape the claws of a system he assisted in creating. I wished this movie were made into two movies. One: The Steve Biko Story and then two: the Donald Woods story. These could have been two excellent movies.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Watch This Movie!
Review: This movie is a great way to learn about Apartheid in South Africa and really relate to it!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Historically incorrect
Review: This movie is a very good movie but historically incorrect. The movie exagerates everything and tells lies. However I really love the music.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Total Catharsis
Review: This movie is absolutely amazing. Words cannot begin to express my emotion during this film from the butterflies in my stomach to the tears to the hearty chuckles. Cry Freedom is a brilliant film that tries to tell the story that the South African government tried for so long to keep secret. The closet opens...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awesome Movie! But Very Touching
Review: This movie is one of the most sad movies I have ever seen in my life. Kline and Washington do a great job doing this film. It really does tell and show you how cruel we were to blacks over time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AWSOME!
Review: This was one of the best movies I have seen. Denzel Washington did an excellant job portraying Steven Biko. This was so great and I wish people who were prejudice could watch this movie, maybe it will teach them whats right. That Africans-Americans and whites are equal.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: FREEDOMS' FIGHTERS
Review: Twenty-three years ago this month of September a young man was brutally murdered by the police in South Africa. In killing Steve Biko, they thought that his words and legacy would die. They were wrong for another courageous middle-aged man risked his life and that of his family to expose the atrocities of South Africa. Donald Woods, a white man, and editor was the one who bought Biko's thoughts to the world. These two men were Freedoms' Fighters for an inclusive South Africa. This movie portrays the transition of Woods from being a do gooder to actually becoming someone who did good. His friendship and love for Steve Biko was a testimony of the possibility of a free South Africa. The cinematography will capture you, the ugliness will sicken you but the shining hope of these two men will inspire you. Without them there would not be a free South Africa today. Both actors do a superb job in portraying the feelings, doubts, fears and hopes that they had for their country. Hopefully this movie will politicize all of us not to be content with the way things are but to initiate change. Blacks should take with them the message of Black consciousness of loving themselves for themselves. Whites should learn that they are a part of the human family in which we must all live together as equals. Learn from these men, this movie and their thoughts. I guarentee you will never be the same.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Touching, true to life
Review: Watching this movie opened my eyes to a whole new reality. Denzel Washington's portrayal of Steve Biko was stunnuing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Old Favorite on Dvd
Review: What a treat to see this beautiful film on dvd. I had seen it on vhs years ago, and recently found and read BIKO by Donald Woods, on which the film was based. The movie stays very close to the book.

For those interested, the book delves much deeper into Biko's life and character, and gives a good summarized history of South Africa. The book also gives more information about the transformation of Woods from a liberal to an activist and the development of their friendship.

Denzel's performance is top notch, and the music moving. You will have a lump in your throat at the end. I found the movie even more enjoyable after reading the book and seeing it on dvd.


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