One of the saddest parts of the film, Cry Freedom, was the loss of such a talented leader, Steve Biko. What abilities did he show that might have made him a good leader of South Africa?
...whether they are black or white, to educate them with the ideas he believes in. He is trying to get rid of the inferiority that came with being black and “I just expect to be treated like you expect to be treated.” Even mid way through the movie when Steve Biko dies because he broke the ban, his ideas are shown through flashbacks. These flashbacks are of what Donald Woods, a white editor of The Daily Despatch and a close friend of Biko, remembers Biko saying about different issues, which relate to the situations he is put into. For example when Donald finally realises the reality that his book about Biko’s story will be published, it flashes backs to Biko on the phone to Donald. “It is the beginning of the end…Change the way people think, and things will never be the same” Biko’s views are not only shown through his passionate and reflective speeches but also through the book that Donald Woods published. The book shows how powerful Biko’s story and message are as the people, both black and white, who read it on Donald’s journey to get it published are emotionally touched by it and are willing to do anything to make sure it is seen by the world. As well as communicating Biko’s views in the film, the actual idea of using film to do this is very powerful and effective. It is effective in the way that the audience is able to connect on a visual level as well as on an audio level. So in many different ways I feel that Cry Freedom is very much about communicating the ideas of injustice, racism, determination, political power and black awareness. Cry Freedom is definitely about black people and communicating their ideas to the world and because of this I feel the major question is “was this film a form of entertainment?” I enjoyed this film very much as it was intriguing to listen and watch Biko’s story and his connection with Donald Woods as these two people were so different but were both fighting for a common cause. As mentioned using the medium of film is also very effective in helping to make it entertaining. Some of the scenes in the film are quite horrific and this plays with the audience’s emotion and makes the film captivating. An example of a scene that is disturbing is during the flashback where the schoolchildren have refused to study Afrikaans and in protesting the white police fire. “More than 700 school children were killed in the Soweto disturbances that began on 16th June 1976 and over 4,000 were wounded.” This develops much sadness and anger in the audience, which makes you also want to continue watching the film to find out what happens next. Another reason why I believe Cry Freedom can be classified as entertainment is that within the process of telling the story they are able to include some light-hearted humour. An example of this is when Donald meets his Australian friend in Lesotho and in the mad rush to get to the embassy in time there is a herd of goats in the middle of road. It is quite amusing to watch the frantic struggle that the 2 characters have to go through. Another amusing factor to the movie is all the witty comments that Biko makes to the white people, particularly in the courtroom, when the ju...