I've learned that there was a streak of anti-apartheid features in the years shortly before apartheid ended. The only one I had watched before, in high school, was A Dry White Season, which pulled no punches. This time, I thought I'd check out one about Steve Biko, whom I knew only to be treated as a martyr.
Like many films about race relations (e.g., The Blind Side), it doesn't actually give the most screen time to the main Black guy. The protagonist here is Donald Woods (Kevin Kline), '70s editor of a left-leaning newspaper who nevertheless starts in opposition to Biko (Denzel Washington in his first Oscar-nominated role), whom he sees as something like Malcolm X (how appropriate for Washington). When challenged to meet Biko, he learns that the man is more like MLK. Woods lends his support despite threats to his family.
Biko usually exudes a mild, smiley demeanor, when he's not met with physical force. Despite his calls for peace, he doesn't shy away from returning a slap. After all, he wants respect as an equal. His one habit that rubs Woods (and me) the wrong way is in lumping all the White people together in much of his dialogue. Still, that's understandable in a setting where the White self-styled liberals seem unwilling to stick their necks out effectually.
One of the most interesting scenes to me is when the "banned" (i.e., restricted) Biko nevertheless delivers a speech to a large, receptive audience. The venue is a soccer stadium, where apparently nobody is watching the players, who make token gestures of kicking the ball around until they too are captivated by Biko's words. It comes to demonstrate what happens when you set disagreeable prohibitions: People use the most ludicrous loopholes.
It shouldn't be a spoiler to say that Biko dies in police custody, with a suspicious official explanation. I was relieved that CF doesn't show as much of the ugly side as ADWS, tho Woods gets a photographer to reveal the extent of Biko's marks. That's about when things really start to get hard for the Woods family, with Donald's wife (Penelope Wilton) starting to question the wisdom of his moves.
As usual, most of the White characters aren't exactly openly racist. Some claim to have their hands tied. Only the ones who bring brute force, whether among the police or not, are liable to make explicit derogatory references to Blacks.
Biko's death occurs about halfway through, with occasional flashbacks to him thereafter. The third act probably gets the most mixed reactions (and certainly got the biggest complaint from Roger Ebert): It focuses on banned Woods's effort to escape the country and tell the rest of the world. Feels kinda like Argo minus the quirky charm. You may find a little excitement in stealth objectives, but there's not much to the action, and it severely loses focus on Biko and other aspects of the main theme.
This being directed by Richard Attenborough, I couldn't help reflecting on Gandhi. That also takes place partly in South Africa and includes another instance of police opening fire on retreating protesters of all ages. Some tell me that Gandhi plays too fast and loose with the truth to build up a hero; I hope that's not the case here.
Would I have done better to see A World Apart or The Power of One? It'll be quite some time before I want to find out. But I don't regret a fairly dramatic history lesson about someone who'd been little more than a name to me before, and Washington has yet to let me down.
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