Yes inded the book and the Movie are essentially about DONALD WOODS.
But it is also about his relationship with Stave Biko AND Mr. WOODS vehement efforts for the abolishment of Apartheid.
That being said.
It is important to understand that Donald Woods was an Anti-Apartheid ACTIVIST,(which is also the other main story line to this movie)as were many close (Wife and other immediate family members), as well as distant familiy members (Sister and her family). The movie is (supposed to be) about his efforts to bring about change in that area.
As the editor of The Daily Dispatch from 1965 to 1977. Under Woods, the Daily Dispatch was very critical of the South African government, but was also critical of the emerging Black Consciousness Movement under the leadership of Steve Biko. After meeting with him, Woods befriended Biko, leader of the anti-apartheid Black Consciousness Movement.
Their friendship lead Woods' strengthend resolution to speak out against Apartheid, and the South African Bureau Of State Security monitoring Woods'every movement. Despite this, Woods continued to provide political support to Biko, both through writing editorials in his newspaper and controversially hiring black journalists to the Daily Dispatch.
Soon after Biko's death, which had actually been caused by serious head injuries, sustained while in police custody.
Steve Biko had been involved in clandestine contacts with two outlawed liberation movements, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). Returning to his home one evening from a trip to Cape Town, Biko was arrested, imprisoned and mortally beaten. He was transported naked and manacled for 740 miles (1200 km) in the back of a police van to Pretoria, and died on the way.
His death was reported by James Kruger, the Minister of Justice, "Biko died on a hunger strike". Speaking in Afrikaans, he said of Biko's death, "Dit laat my koud" ("It leaves me cold").
Woods went to the morgue with Biko's wife Ntsiki and photographed Biko's battered body. The photographs were later published in Woods' book, exposing the South African government's cover up of the cause of Biko's death.
After further speaking out against the government and describing the truth aout Biko's death Woods was banned by the government and was effectively placed under house arrest. It became clear to Woods that he and his family were being targeted by the government, and he decided his family needed to leave South Africa to avoid the dangerous threats from the South African government.
On June 16, 1976, rioting broke out in Soweto, in which young students from Soweto participated in a march to protest against being taught in Afrikaans and against the Bantu education system in general.
They marched from the Morris Isaacson School intending to hold a rally outside the Education buildings in Johannesburg. The children were met by the police and ordered to disperse. The children refused and the police opened fire. As the children pelted the police with stones, South Africa went up in flames.
The government responded by banning the entire Black Consciousness Movement along with many other political organisations, as well as issuing banning orders to various individuals.
During this time Woods devised a plan to be smuggled out of his house, and made his way to Lesotho disguised as an Irish Catholic priest, where his family joined him shortly thereafter. With the help of the British High Commission (in Maseru) and from the Lesotho Government , they flew via Botswana to London and were granted political asylum where he continued to foster opposition to apartheid.
Woods was born in East London, South Africa, where his family had lived for five generations. Donald's ancestors arrived in South Africa in 1820 to settle in, what was seen then by whites as, an empty land to the east of Cape Town; the land had however been settled by the Khoisan, Khoikhoi and Xhosa peoples for many hundreds of years. Woods grew up in a typical white South African lifestyle. When he attended the University of Cape Town, where he studied law, he was hopeful that the newly elected National Party government would create a better South Africa, with its new system of apartheid, benefiting the entire population. He became a cub reporter and eventually went to work for the Daily Dispatch newspaper in East London, in his beloved Eastern Cape. During this time he met and married his wife, Wendy. They were soon the parents of a large family (including five children and a dog), and Donald later becoming the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Dispatch.
After arriving in London, Woods became an active spokesman against apartheid. Acting upon the advice of Oliver Tambo, the President of the ANC, Woods became a passionate advocate of nations imposing sanctions against South Africa. He toured the United States campaigning for sanctions against apartheid. The trip included a three hour session, arranged by President Jimmy Carter, to address officials in the U.S. Department of State. Woods also spoke at a session of the United Nations Security Council in 1978.
On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after serving twenty-seven years on Robben Island. That Easter, Mandela came to London to attend a concert at Wembley Stadium to thank the Anti-Apartheid Movement and the British people for all their years of campaigning against apartheid. Woods gave Mandela a tie in the black, green and gold colours of the African National Congress to celebrate the event. On Easter Sunday, Mandela phoned to thank Woods' family for the tie and said that he would wear it at the concert the next day, which he did. Woods stood to attention throughout the phone call.
Woods returned to South Africa in 1994 to support the fund-raising efforts for the ANC election fund. His son Dillon was one of the organisers of the fund-raising appeal in the United Kingdom. On April 27, 1994, Woods went to vote at the City Hall in Johannesburg. A cheering crowd took him to the head of the queue, giving him the place of honour so that he could be one of the first to vote in the new South Africa. Following the election, Donald worked for the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg.
On September 9, 1997, on the twentieth anniversary of the death of Steve Biko, Woods was present in East London when a statue of Biko was unveiled by Nelson Mandela and the bridge across the Buffalo River was renamed the "Biko Bridge". Woods also gave his support to the Action for Southern Africa event in Islington, London honouring Biko, helping to secure messages from Ntsiki Biko, Mamphela Ramphele (then the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town) and Mandela.
In the last year of his life, Donald gave his name to support the appeal to raise funds to erect a statue of Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar Square outside the South African High Commission, where anti-apartheid campaigners had demonstrated during the period of the apartheid regime. He was also awarded an Order of the British Empire.
Woods died of cancer on August 19, 2001.
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barblin2002
17 years ago
Thanks for filling up the gap about what happened afterwards.
Woods is an admiring figure, giving up his rich life in Africa for the sake of justice.
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Seanpdineen
17 years ago
I have been to south africa, both are rememebered there.
As a white disabled young person, I felt in awe of being there.
Don't beleive the garbage on tv about crime and aids, yes there is poverty and troubled areas, but there is also a great sense of community and christain botherhood. I was weclomed and valued, everywhere
God bless its people Black, white indian and coloured.
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teamwak
17 years ago
I too have been to South Africa and found it riven and simmering with tension. See the Blacks and Coloureds sleep on the streets of Cape Town while the White shops have full length metal bars over doors and windows.
Sure its better, but there is still far to go.
If they dont make peace soon it will go up in flames again.
You watched it, you cant un-watch it! - Futurama
http://teamwak.blogspot.com/
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Seanpdineen
17 years ago
Sadly there is some truth.
As a white kid from New Jersey I was overwehelmed with welcome
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seachanter
17 years ago
At the time of Steven Biko's death, the knowledge of what happened and how important he was for all of us, black, white and all shades, was barely acknowledged.
Mr. Woods, a man of great moral courage, at that time and an example of same for anytime, was white as we know, so once he escaped from South Africa he was LISTENED to.
No, he should not have been listened to because he was white, but at that time, 1977, his voice could be heard. He could have easily chosen to back off, keep his job, and stay in his beloved homeland.
But he chose a different path, one which put his whole family in danger. And did not veer from this path.
I saw the movie when it first came out. Watching the growing friendship, watching Mr. Woods changing and agreeing to do what he did impressed me more than Mr. Biko. I know that sounds as if I am minimizing Mr. Biko's trials and death, but as a White American this was the first time I had seen visualized not just the horror of apartheid, but also what was needed doing to LEAVE a country.
In my mind, up to that point, I thought of South Africa as an open country, but it wasn't and this movie slammed that into my head.
America was no winner when I was growing up, I had to learn I didn't have to hate and fear those different from me and had to face what society had taught me up to that point and how it was wrong. Thank you, Martin Luther King. You helped me learn I did not have to hate, nor fear, and as an American it was my duty to sit by and let my voice not be added to those who listened and knew you were right and so many of my teachers were wrong.
Mr. Wood helped me see how a whole country was wrong, and by Richard Attenbourgh focusing on Mr. Wood, he was able to show what so many of us didn't realize; if the government thought its policies were correct, why did they try so hard to keep this knowledge from the rest of the world?
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D8Player
16 years ago
Great follow up. As I said in another thread I would like to see a bio-pic on Biko alone as he seems a very interesting character from what was shown in this movie.
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