Cry Freedom

Donald Woods (Kline), editor of the Daily Dispatch, following the publication of a critical article on black activist Steve Biko (Washington), is challenged to meet him, and is won over. After Biko's brutal murder by the South African police, Woods refuses to accept the official cause of death (hunger strike) and campaigns for a full public enquiry. Viciously persecuted along with his wife and family, he finds that flight is the only answer. The initial stages of this epic movie are somewhat stodgy, but once Attenborough achieves his momentum there's no holding him. The performances are excellent, the crowd scenes astonishing, and the climax truly nerve-wracking. An implacable work of authority and compassion, Cry Freedom is political cinema at its best.