Cry Freedom

Heartfelt saga, beautifully filmed and produced by Attenborough (at his best he is one of Lean's fiercest rivals for composition); unfortunately the screenplay's inability to reconcile Biko's more interesting/relevant story with the hackneyed telling of Woods' escape in the second half (and the patronising way both men's "struggles" are contrasted) dulls its impact. Washington and Kline are terrific, and props to Attenborough for tackling apartheid in an uncompromising, at times brutal fashion.

Good, but loses its way in the second half when it chooses to focus on the white guy whose name I don't remember--his story is not nearly as interesting as what leads up to it. Still better than most of the biopics about this place and time. If you want to watch a movie about black life during Apartheid, out of the lot, let it be the first half of this one.

Washington's commanding performance unfortunately exits midway, leaving way for a handsomely-mounted but routine thriller detailing Woods' (Kline) escape from South Africa.

When I saw this in 1987 it made a huge impact Now it seems slightly tame with too much focus on Woods story and not enough on Biko.

SPOILER ALERT!!!! (I feel like once Biko died, the movie became an adventure-escape story rather than a character/political study on apartheid in South Africa that it was at the beginning. Which may not necessarily be a bad thing.)

A well-intentioned but cliched and by-the-numbers biography about Apartheid era South Africa. Denzel Washington is great whenever his character is on-screen. Moving at times, but its bloated length is problematic.

An interesting and correct movie about the South African conflict and apartheid. Nothing to blow your mind, but passes the time.

Strong performances from Washington and Kline make for an interesting movie on a subject that has not spawned a ton of films.

Wonderful movie. Very moving.

Conventional biographical epic.