Cry Freedom

Rating:
Summary: It looks like South Africa
Review: I suspect the details of the escape from South Africa were over-dramatized at some points. But my main point is simply this: having lived in South Africa for two years, I can confirm that the movie transmits a perfect impression of what the country feels and looks like. I don't mean the political situation under apartheid; I mean the streets, roads, landscapes, and how people interact with each other - a good example is the jokes between the delivery man from Lesotho and the South African border guards. The film was mostly shot in Zimbabwe, to maximum effect.

Rating:
Summary: Cry Freedom really touched me
Review: I'm a 15 year old girl, now you might think well whats a 15 year old doing writing a review on Cry Freedom. Well the truth is, is that this film touched me it made me feel diferent about life. I was set to watch this film for my media study. Now as a person i've always wanted equal rights and this film made me even more sure about the way i think the world should be. The film shows great deepness in how life was in South Africa and Steve Biko was a very great and brave man and if he was still alive today i would be honered to meet him. This film has brought to my attention that things needed to change and Steve was the one to do it, but the whites knew this and it scared them, i think this is why in the end that they had to lock him up to protect themselves from the truth coming out and also this is why he was killed. I know i keep saying needed and were but if we really think about it have things really changed, obviously to some extent they have but not to the extent that they should have. I greatly recommend this film, it made me have different views to life and i can imagine it will to you.

Rating:
Summary: We all have to think about it!!
Review: I'm a Japanese high school student and reading the book of "Cry Freedom" as an English textbook in the English class. And in the class, I watched this movie. In one words, it's really worth watching. I'm 16 years old now. But after I was born, there had been apartheid for about 6 years. It is dreadful. I'm so scared to think about that. There was apartheid in this world. I think I have to think about that. And I must keep it in my mind. We mustn't do racial discrimination. Because as one people, "human", we must build a World as beautiful as this earh is, as beautiful we are!!

Rating:
Summary: Cry Freedom
Review: In World Studies class we have been studying South Africa, basically through the accounts of others and through out textbook. We finished the book Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, and began to watch Cry Freedom. All I knew when we started the movie was that it was about Steven Biko. The movie was honestly one of the best I've ever seen. It was well written, and the actors were great. It's really worth seeing if you were or are unaware of the system in South Africa. It's really a great movie, and I'd reccommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: The best film I've ever seen...
Review: It is really one of the best films I've ever seen. Denzel Washington is great.

Rating:
Summary: a response to Tom Keogh
Review: Mr Keogh claims that this movie is only semi-successful because its focus shifts halfway through to focus on Donald Woods' attempt to escape South Africa. I do not think that this is a flaw in the film, though, because the film was based upon Woods' writings about both Steve Biko AND his escape from South Africa. The movie was not intended to be simply a biopic about Biko, because it was based upon the work that Woods wrote.

I watched this film in an African Philosphy course in which we read some of Biko's own work and personally, I feel that the entire film is a wonderful film. It is true that the emphasis does shift to Donald Woods' escape, but the scene where he is looking down on South Africa from the airplane that then shifts to the protest/massacre of school children is both beutifally stirring (the protest) and utterly horrific (the massacre that then esues). To anyone interested in human rights or the struggles agains Apartheid that Biko helped contribute to, I would recommend this movie highly.

Rating:
Summary: a response to Tom Keogh
Review: Mr Keogh claims that this movie is only semi-successful because its focus shifts halfway through to focus on Donald Woods' attempt to escape South Africa. I do not think that this is a flaw in the film, though, because the film was based upon Woods' writings about both Steve Biko AND his escape from South Africa. The movie was not intended to be simply a biopic about Biko, because it was based upon the work that Woods wrote.

I watched this film in an African Philosphy course in which we read some of Biko's own work and personally, I feel that the entire film is a wonderful film. It is true that the emphasis does shift to Donald Woods' escape, but the scene where he is looking down on South Africa from the airplane that then shifts to the protest/massacre of school children is both beutifally stirring (the protest) and utterly horrific (the massacre that then esues). To anyone interested in human rights or the struggles agains Apartheid that Biko helped contribute to, I would recommend this movie highly.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Delivered!
Review: On of the greatest movies of today. It really packs a punch. It will really make you think twice or better about what is going on in the world today. A must have!

Rating:
Summary: A Study of Loss
Review: The criticism I've heard when this movie is being discussed has always bothered me to some degree. The knock against it is that Denzel Washington is so strong in the role of Steve Biko, and he himself was such an important figure in South African history, that he deserves a movie of his own. Now, while I agree with this assessment, and hope that maybe a Djimon Hounsou or Chiwetel Ejiofor will revisit the role at some future date, I can't help but feel that these people are judging the movie for what they wanted it to be, and not what's actually up there on the screen.

Not only that, but I feel that the loss of Biko midway through the film actually serves a purpose. And that purpose is, by the final half-hour, when we're privileged enough to have a few flashbacks of him, we realize what a loss he has been to the movie, and to the world. So by having him cut out of a good portion of the film, we're made to grieve his death while the movie continues to soldier forward.

Oh, and by the way, it's not like that second half is a dog, either. It's just not quite as good as the first. I mean, if this movie were cut in two (ala "Kill Bill"), we'd being saying that part one was brilliant, while part two was merely very good. And considering that the 80's were hardly a golden age for Hollywood, that ain't bad.

Now, getting back to Denzel, this is not only the best performance of his career, but possibly one of the greatest ever captured on celluloid, and I find it deeply disconcerting that he didn't win an Academy Award for this performance while he was honored for a menial role in "Training Day" (I'll post a review later explaining my opinion). Not only that, but why, dare I ask, was he nominated in a supporting role, when the Golden Globes acknowledged him as a leading man? Sure, his character was murdered an hour and a half into the movie, but Anthony Hopkins had no more of a lead in "Silence of the Lambs" than Denzel was here.

I hate to cry racism against "liberal" Hollywood, but how else can you explain this, along with the fact that some of the best performances of recent years, given by black actors, have been overlooked? For example, Delroy Lindo in "Clockers," Giancarlo Espisito in "Bob Roberts," Larenz Tate in "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," and the list just goes on and on. I could probably name 50 more if given the time. Not to mention the fact that Spike Lee has never been nominated for Best Director, not even for "Malcolm X" or "Do the Right Thing," neither of which can be disputed as one of the best films of their respective years.

But now I've gone off on a rant, and forgotten to mention Kevin Kline's great supporting work here, and Richard Attenborough, who has yet to top this movie in the seventeen years since it's release. This is also his best work to date, in my opinion, and even tops his much more lauded "Gandhi."

Of course, if you're watching this movie for the first time and don't understand why anyone would make such a fuss about it, I challenge you to sit through the closing credits without being moved to tears. It's just a remarkable bit of filmmaking, simple but powerful, and may be the best end credit sequence since Martin Ritt's "The Front."

Rating:
Summary: A Study of Loss
Review: The criticism I've heard when this movie is being discussed has always bothered me to some degree. The knock against it is that Denzel Washington is so strong in the role of Steve Biko, and he himself was such an important figure in South African history, that he deserves a movie of his own. Now, while I agree with this assessment, and hope that maybe a Djimon Hounsou or Chiwetel Ejiofor will revisit the role at some future date, I can't help but feel that these people are judging the movie for what they wanted it to be, and not what's actually up there on the screen.

Not only that, but I feel that the loss of Biko midway through the film actually serves a purpose. And that purpose is, by the final half-hour, when we're privileged enough to have a few flashbacks of him, we realize what a loss he has been to the movie, and to the world. So by having him cut out of a good portion of the film, we're made to grieve his death while the movie continues to soldier forward.

Oh, and by the way, it's not like that second half is a dog, either. It's just not quite as good as the first. I mean, if this movie were cut in two (ala "Kill Bill"), we'd being saying that part one was brilliant, while part two was merely very good. And considering that the 80's were hardly a golden age for Hollywood, that ain't bad.

Now, getting back to Denzel, this is not only the best performance of his career, but possibly one of the greatest ever captured on celluloid, and I find it deeply disconcerting that he didn't win an Academy Award for this performance while he was honored for a menial role in "Training Day" (I'll post a review later explaining my opinion). Not only that, but why, dare I ask, was he nominated in a supporting role, when the Golden Globes acknowledged him as a leading man? Sure, his character was murdered an hour and a half into the movie, but Anthony Hopkins had no more of a lead in "Silence of the Lambs" than Denzel was here.

I hate to cry racism against "liberal" Hollywood, but how else can you explain this, along with the fact that some of the best performances of recent years, given by black actors, have been overlooked? For example, Delroy Lindo in "Clockers," Giancarlo Espisito in "Bob Roberts," Larenz Tate in "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," and the list just goes on and on. I could probably name 50 more if given the time. Not to mention the fact that Spike Lee has never been nominated for Best Director, not even for "Malcolm X" or "Do the Right Thing," neither of which can be disputed as one of the best films of their respective years.

But now I've gone off on a rant, and forgotten to mention Kevin Kline's great supporting work here, and Richard Attenborough, who has yet to top this movie in the seventeen years since it's release. This is also his best work to date, in my opinion, and even tops his much more lauded "Gandhi."

Of course, if you're watching this movie for the first time and don't understand why anyone would make such a fuss about it, I challenge you to sit through the closing credits without being moved to tears. It's just a remarkable bit of filmmaking, simple but powerful, and may be the best end credit sequence since Martin Ritt's "The Front."