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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6, .1987 - PAGE 5
K a u f f m a n n On Films
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BY STANLEY KAUFFMANN
pleasantries, the tone of the film is
Predictably, Cry Freedom
cool and businesslike. The condivides viewers into two groups:
ference might have been discussthose who admire it because of the
ing shipments of cattle or coal. This
subject and those who say a poor the intimate scenes, are fluently
The plan for the Final Solution,
is the prime point of the film—to
film is being praised because of its done, graphic. Other than our first which in some measure had
reproduce that tone.
subject. I, a true liberal, see merit glimpse of Biko standing in back of .already begun, met with instant apin both views. I'm glad that the film some boughs with radiance behind proval from all present. One ofwas made, and made a t least this1 him, Attenborough does little ficial had one reservation. He
FILMS WORTH SEEING
well; but it would be much less ef- filmic canonizing.
thought that half-Jews ought to be House of Games. Gambling and
fective if it were fiction.
As in Gandhi, Attenborough has exempted; otherwise, soldiers other compulsions, David Mamet
great success with his actors, returning from the front might see wrote and directed this seemingly
Denzel Washington, known from their relatives being taken away. realistic but abstract, imaginative
"St. Elsewhere," plays Biko with This objection was amicably, work.
CryFreedom
persuasive dignity, with humor. almost chaffingly, overruled in the Manon of the Spring. Not-a free(Universal)
Washington declines the halo and interests of a clean sweep. The ob- standing film. But as the sequel to
opts for the man. As Woods, Kevin ject was to eliminate all of the 11 . Jean de Florette, it concludes the
The Wannsee Conference
Kline h a s a relatively bland million European Jews—a figure two-part story with high 19th(Rearguard)
role—mostly he's pensive or quiet- that included Jews in countries yet century • drama. Yves Montand a
ly angry—but he keeps it in- to be annexed, such as England, grim peasant titan.
Sammy andRosie Get Laid. The titeresting. Penelope Wilton, as Mrs. Ireland, Switzerland, and Spain.
The Wannsee Conference, made tle is much more brazen after the
Woods, is staunch without being
The basic trouble structurally is tiresome'. Two excellent actors in 1984, was initiated by Manfred film. A fierce, funny, sexy account
that it is not fiction. The need to make two subordinate roles glow. Korytowski, a German TV pro- of Asian and black life in the inner
stick to facts fractured the film Zakes Makae, justly treasured for ducer particularly known for city "of London. Written and
cinematically. Cry Freedom is his work?1 here in several Fugard children's programs. The film'was directed by the makers of My
about Steve Biko, the black South plays, is winning as a priest. John partly financed by a German TV Beautiful Laundrette. Unique and
African leader who was murdered Hargreaves, the Australian who group but was broadcast in Ger- strong.
in prison in 1977, and Donald burned his way through My First many only after it had been shown Theme. Fine directing and acting
Woods, the white newspaper editor Wife, is trenchant as a newspaper- in a number of other countries and in this exceptionally candid Soviet
film about the midlife crisis of a
who grew to sympathize strongly man who helps Woods to escape.
had won some prizes.
with Biko and who fled South Biko's perception that a prereExcepting the board-meeting successful playwright.
Africa with his family in order to quisite of freedom is blacks' raistell the whole story. Wood's two ing of their self-esteem—this is
books are the basis of the film, and made clear and moving. The
to put it callously, they don't make desperate brutality of the governa good screenplay. Biko dies too ment is also clear, right to the edge
senslessly and too early. He vir- of cartoon. (One neat touch: a
tually invites martyrdom by . in- black detective assigned to watch
sisting on a trip to Johannesburg to the Woods home can't sit in the
address students. He uses no kind "For Whites Only" bus stop across
of evasive action, he simply drives the street; he has to sit on the
right into a police checkpoint. He is ground.) But, heretically, I have to
Q. Will the VA furnish a grave A - Yes > Provided you meet the
arrested and beaten so badly that note that this large-scale, self- marker
a person who died in mgeneral
eli gl buity requirements for
ed
al
he soon dies. The film then has conscious epic didn't affect me any military for
service
and
whose
re"
:
. care. Women veteran
another hour to fill, and the script more than a small 1975 suspense mains have not been recovered or coordinators
have been designated
e
tries to elevate the escape of the film called Wilby Conspiracy. In a identified ?
Veterans Administration
Woods family to the level of Biko's sharply written screenplay by Rod
A. Yes.'A memorial or marker ™fM<*\ center and many regional
drama. This doesn't work. It Amateau and Harold Nebenzal, may
be furnished on application of offices to counsel women veterans
couldn't work.
Michael Caine played an apoliticai a close relative recognized as the seeKing treatment,
John Briley, who wrote the South African who, for plot next of kin to commemorate any . Q-My spouse and I do not live
screenplay of Gandhi, had just the reasons, has to help a n activist, elieibile veteran
together, neither do I contribute to
reverse problem here. With Sidney Poitier, escape the pursuit
Q. My husband is a World War I *[s support. Can I claim him as a
Gandhi, he tried to cram a huge, of Nicol Williamson, a detective. veteran who is not eligible for VA dependent on my pension claim?
complex story into three hours and Those three performances, aided pension benefits because of income . A -No. A married veteran with no
20 minutes; with Cry Freedom, he by the crisp dialogue, make this standards. Is he eligible for VA out- children is considered a veteran
w
had to find ways to beef up the ac- modest film persist in the memory patient treatment?
! £ o u t dependents if not living
count of a pitifully short life. The more than CryFreedom is likely to ' A. Yes. A World War I veteran W l t h a n , d ™* contributing to the
last hour of this film's 157 minutes do.
may be provided VA outpatient suypport
of her spouse
l own
is a mechanical thriller, with contreatment for any condition even o nQ, a manufactured home
trived narrow escapes, with time The Wannsee Conference is a though he is not receiving VA pen- a rented lot I would like to purand place typewritten on the screen much stricter historical recreation sion benefits
chase a lot for it. Can I do this using
at the beginning of each sequence, than Cry Freedom. Wannsee is the
Q. My husband has been rated t h e Veterans Administration
and so on.
lovely suburb of Berlin where, in a 100 percent for his service- guaranteed loan program?
Equally mechanically, Briley villa that once belonged to a Jew, connected disability and had been ,. A - Y e s - A Veteran Admimstrawrites scenes early in the, film in Nazi officials met on Jan. 20, 1942, receiving VA c o m p e n s a t i o n "°n guaranteed loan may be used
which A tells B something that B to agree upon and launch the Final benefits for the last 15 years. If he ° buy and improve a lot on which
already knows so that we can learn Solution. The meeting was chaired dies from other than service- to place a manufactured home you
it. (Bad marks for this device in by Reinhard Heydrich; there were connected causes, will I be entitled &lT^ o w n and occupy.
Play writing 101.) However, some 14 other participants and a f« r^n^^r,™
T„)*~~,r,if„ ( ^ m m . n . Q-1 am a veteran and would like
of the early dialogue i s good terse secretary. "The minutes were sation(DIC)?
to start a small business. How can I
stuff. Woods, who has tried to hold preserved, and later they figured in
obta n a
eter ans
A.
Yes.
The
widow
of
any
veteran
an impartial editorial line opposed the Nuremberg trials and the who was in receipt of 100 percent s ^ lfb u. s i "y e s s ,l o a n ? Administration
. . . . f.
to black racism a s well as white, is Eichmann trial. (Eichmann was c o m p e n s a t i o n for s e r v i c e - A. The Veterans AAdmimstration
convinced by some of the rebel's prominent in the conference.)' Now
disabilities for ten (10) does not have a small-business loan
quiet statements that Biko is not a those minutes have been used as connected
or
more
years
immediately prior to Program. The Small Business Adblack racist. But the bestwritten the ground of this screenplay.
death is entitled to receive DIC ministration SBA) has programs
scene is the one in which Woods Very little has been perceptibly
:to assist veterans in obtaining
visits the police comissioner at his added by the screenwriter, Paul benefits, regardless of the cause of.]small business loans. In each SBA
death
home to complain of police van- Mommertz—greetings a t the door,
Q. When a veteran is in training ^ l d ofi£e the f e i s a veterans' afdalism at Biko's community conversations with telephone
fairs , officer
rehabilitation,
under vocational ^..„*,~*^*^
,, TT „ to
_, assist veterans.
, ..
u , „.
school. The commissioner explains operators, that sort of thing. The
the Boer point of view—a sequence film runs 90 minutes, which was does the receipt of subsistence ^ k the IJ.S Government section
essential to give the film some kind precisely the duration of the conallowance cause any reduction in °£ ihe Ipcal phone book for the add r e s s of t h e n e a r e s t S B A o f f l c e
of balance—in terms that seem ra- ference before the participants ad- VA disability compensation?
tional and t u r n o u t t o b e journed for lunch. The pace, ably
A. No. Veterans may receive sub- — — — — — — — ^ — ^ — — .
duplicitous.
managed by the director, Heinz
sistence allowance for vocational
Scene by scene, that scene cer- Schirk, is brisk. The camera moverehabilitation and disability comtainly included, Richard Atten- ment is alert, observant: the
American
pensation. In addition, the VA will
borough has directed well. (Excep- crosscutting, the angles, the circl- pay for the costs of tuition, books
Heart
tion: the ghastly whoop-up music ing of the table are always subser- and fees involved in the rehabilita< >
he pasted on the last hour.) The vient to the flow of the talk, never tion
program.
Association
bulldozing of a black shantytown, inserted to make the film "visual."
Q. I am a female veteran. Can I
WE3RE FIGHTING FOR SOUR LIFE
the sequence—condensed from The cast is utterly competent, withhistorical fact—in which police kill Dietrich Mattausch commanding obtain gender-related medical
treatment at a Veterans Adblack children, as well as many of as Heydrich.
,
.
ministration-facility?
Cry, Freedom
Listen, Veterans
Questions & Answers
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