"Cry Freedom"

"Cry Freedom" (1987) is a real story based on the two books from Donald Woods. It shows the friendship between a white liberal South African editor, Donald Woods, and Steve Biko, an idealistic black leader who later dies at the hands of the South African police. We can see two different parts in the movie: The part where Donald meets Biko and starts thinking like him and the one after Biko’s death, where we see the editor's desire to escape South Africa and publish a book with the real cause of his friend’s death because he refuses to believe the official one: a hunger strike. "Cry Freedom" is an emotional, breathtaking and valuable movie, and in my opinion, it should definitely be seen because even if everybody has heard about lots of racist historical events and revolutions, few people really know what a racist country looks and feels like and this movie helps to visualize it. The movie was shot in Zimbabwe, and I think it is such a good place to film it because it’s a country where there’s still some racism nowadays and lots of poverty. So, I think that they have done an amazing job with this movie because thanks to it we really know how Black people suffered because of racism and it’s very emotional seeing them fighting for their rights no matter what. Finally, I really admire Donald’s behavior because it was very brave being against his own government and people for others that we first wasn’t concerned with, even if it means risking his life and his family’s.

Steve Biko

Stephen Bantu Biko was born in Pretoria in 1946 (18 December) and died in 1977 (12 September. Educated at Forbes Middle School Grant and Lovedale College, a Catholic institution of Natal, he was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. Biko got married with Ntsiki Mashalaba in 1970. They had two children together: Nkosinathi, born in 1971, and Samora. He was initially involved with the multiracial National Union of South African Students, but he considered that he was controlled by White people. Then, in 1968, he created the Association of South African Students (SASO), one of the first organizations of "Black Consciousness”, where he became president. Because of those activities, a year later, Biko was expelled from the university. In 1972 he founded the Black Community Program in Durban. He worked in the Black Magazine and was the editor but in February 1973 the Black Magazine was closed and Biko was under house arrested. They forgive him to participate in any activity of any organization, and was banished for five years to his hometown, King William's Town. When he was killed, Donald Woods, the journalist and good friend of Biko, exposed the truth about his death. 

It was the 23rd person who died under mysterious circumstances in the jails of South Africa. South African journalist Donald Woods wrote two books about Biko's murdered caused by a racist government. In 1987, British filmmaker Richard Attenborough filmed the movie Cry Freedom, based on the two books by Donald Woods and starring Denzel Washington, about life and death of Steve Biko. Stephen Biko became a symbol of the black movement and equal rights.