Donald Woods is chief editor of the liberal newspaper Daily Dispatch in South Africa. He has written several editorials critical of the views of Steve Biko. But after having met him for the first time, he changes his opinion. They meet several times, and this means that Woods and his family get attention from the security police. When Steve Biko dies in police custody, he writes a book about Biko. The only way to get it published is for Woods himself to illegally escape the country.
Written by
Mattias Thuresson
Plot Synopsis:
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Cry Freedom is the story of Donald Woods (Kevin Kline), editor of Daily Despatch, a liberal newspaper in East London, South Africa and his historic friendship with Steven Biko (Denzel Washington), one of the most respected freedom fighters of South Africa. The movie is set in South Africa under the apartheid regime.

Woods does not appreciate the ideologies of Steve Biko and often publishes criticism against his views. But with time, he develops a liking for Biko's views and decides to meet him in person. This historic meeting leads to an instantaneous friendship and very soon, Woods' newspaper starts publishing pro-Biko articles regularly.

This gets noticed and attracts the iron hand of the white supremist government and Woods is put under house arrest. Meanwhile Biko is also arrested and the torture that follows leads to his death in custody. Rebellion against the government breaks out in different parts of the country.

Meanwhile Woods decides to tell the world about the ideologies of Steve Biko and the atrocities under the rule of the apartheid government. He successfully compiles a volume and prepares to get it published - but realises that this will not be possible sitting in South Africa. So he to plans an escape. The family splits up - Woods' wife and children plan a 'holiday' at his in-laws' place near the Lesotho border while Woods himself embarks on a hitchhike from East London to Maseru (capital of Lesotho). They face numerous obstacles en-route and come perilously close to getting caught by the authorities.

The filmmakers intended to shoot in South Africa as early as October 1986, with permission from select prominent figures, including Oliver Tambo and Winnie Mandela. After interviewing Mandela, the chief production crew was tailed around by the South African gestapo all the time, and was forced to leave South Africa. Also, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) deliberately misinterpreted Sir Richard Attenborough's decision to shoot the movie in October, and instead broadcast the "news" of his starting a revolution sponsored by Russia.
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This movie was filmed in Zimbabwe, rather than South Africa, due to the political unrest and sensitivities that were present there at the time.
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Denzel Washington was cast as Steve Biko after Sir Richard Attenborough saw him in an episode of St. Elsewhere (1982).
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According to Sir Richard Attenborough, some cast members were South African exiles.
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This movie takes place from November 24, 1975 to January 2, 1979.
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Stephen Biko (Denzel Washington) had been the subject of a television documentary a decade earlier. This was on an episode of World in Action (1963) titled "The Life and Death of Steve Biko", which was broadcast on October 3, 1977.
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The closing credits declare that this movie was "filmed principally in the Republic of Zimbabwe, and completed in Kenya, the United Kingdom, and at Lee International Film Studios Ltd., Shepparton, England, with post-production at Twickenham Studios, Middlesex, England".
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Lew Wasserman, the head of MCA/Universal told Sir Richard Attenborough to "clear his shelves of his Oscars for Ghandi , as Cry Freedom was going sweep the board at the Academy awards" and indeed, early, pre-release test screenings resulted in many positive audience reactions. However, this movie proved to be a disaster at the U.S. box-office, and failed to be nominated in any of the major Oscar categories except Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for Denzel Washington.
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Gerald Sim (Police doctor) was the brother-in-law of Director Sir Richard Attenborough.
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This movie was based on two books by Donald Woods, who was played in the movie by Kevin Kline. These are "Biko" (1978) and "Asking for Trouble: The Autobiography of a Banned Journalist" (1981).
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This movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, two of them for Best Music, Best Music Score and Best Original Song ("Cry Freedom"), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Denzel Washington, but the movie failed to win an Oscar in any of these categories.
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The seventh of only twelve theatrical movies directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.
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One of a mini-cycle of late 1980s anti-Apartheid movies. The others being A World Apart (1988) and A Dry White Season (1989). The Power of One (1992) followed in the early 1990s.
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The opening prologue states: "With the exception of two characters, whose identity has been concealed to ensure their safety, all the people depicted in this film are real, and all the events true."
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The opening title card reads: "24th November 1975: Crossroads Settlement, Cape Province, Republic of South Africa."
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The acronym "B.P.C." stood for "Black People Convention".
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According to the Turner Classic Movies website, "the film was released in South Africa, to a selected audience."
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English actor John Thaw's previous movie had been another Africa set movie Graset sjunger (1981).
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First theatrical movie produced by a major Hollywood studio of renowned Australian actor John Hargreaves.
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The epilogue during the closing credits states: "'Biko' was published in 1978. Its author, Donald Woods, and his wife, Wendy Woods, served as principal consultants to this film."
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Sir Richard Attenborough, Denzel Washington (Stephen Biko), Kevin Kline (Donald Woods), and Alec McCowen (Acting High Commissioner) appeared in Shakespearean movies directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh. McCowen played the Bishop of Ely in Henry V (1989), Washington played Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Attenborough played the English Ambassador in Hamlet (1996), and Kline played Jacques in As You Like It (2006).
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The movie features two actors who won Best Actor in a Supporting Role Academy Awards during the 1980s. Denzel Washington won for Glory (1989), while Kevin Kline won for A Fish Called Wanda (1988). Washington later won a Best Actor Oscar for Training Day (2001), while this movie garnered Washington his first Academy Award nomination, which was for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
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The car that takes Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) to the Lesotho border bridge is a beat-up 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne convertible.
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This movie was part of a cycle of movies, made during the 1980s, that featured journalists covering war. The others being Salvador (1986), Under Fire (1983), Die Falschung (1981), Deadline (1987), The Killing Fields (1984), and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982).
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This movie is often shown in two eighty-minute parts, allowing for a convenient intermission in theaters, and for the two parts to be shown on multiple nights on television.
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This movie was selected as one of the Top Ten Films of the Year, in 1987 by the U.S.'s National Board of Review.
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Despite the fact that this was filmed in Super 35, "Filmed in Panavision" is listed in the end credits.
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Tires screeching on dusty dirt road.
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Although the film is set in South Africa, circa 1977, one of the buses arriving at Steve Biko's funeral plainly bears advertising for Charon's - a Zimbabwean brand of sweets not known in South Africa.
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When the Woods family are on the beach planning their getaway (supposedly the beach close to East London, South Africa) the "sea" has vegetation growing out of it (trees, branches etc.). No filming could take place in South Africa at the time, so this scene was filmed at Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe.
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An extra that played a heavily wounded protester (shot in the back during the revolts) in Soweto jumped out of his lying position in a lively fashion when other extras (that were supposed to carry him off) started lifting him off the ground.
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During the opening sequence, actual photos from the contemporary ghetto, and a few of actual police action in the ghettos, are shown interspersed with recreations for the film. While very accurate, there are a number of small inconsistencies that reveal the disparity.

Most notable are newspaper clippings and posters on walls behind characters (such as the clipping behind the studying girl) which are similar though clearly different, and the police vehicles; the mine-protected vehicles in the stills were not available outside South Africa at the time of filming, so are replaced with Land Rovers and cargo trucks.
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