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Mawa Makondo Movies

1987  
PG  
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Richard Attenborough directed this dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods (Kevin Kline) is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko (Denzel Washington), a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist. Woods and his wife Wendy (Penelope Wilton) get to know Biko, and they become friends, until Biko is brutally murdered at the hands of government troops in 1977 for his activities against the country's repression of the black majority population. Donald is shocked and appalled by Biko's murder and determined that the truth about Biko will become known to the world; eventually, Donald and Wendy Woods and their children must leave South Africa (and nearly everything they have) as they spread the word about Biko's life and death to ensure that he did not die in vain. Washington received an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Biko. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Starring:
Kevin KlinePenelope Wilton, (more)
 
1986  
 
Told from the perspective of an innocent young teen and the writings in her diaries, this drama about an actual, sensational murder committed among the British colonialists in Kenya is compelling and effective in its understatement. The time is the early 1940s and Juanita Carberry (Holly Aird) lives in the priviliged circles of the colonialists in Kenya, rubbing elbows with the elite at house gatherings, official outings, and numerous social occasions. Her father (Michael Byrne) treats her brutally and in order to keep her emotional balance she finds companionship in the animals around her and in the Kenyan servants who are her friends. Sharply conscious of the superficiality and cruelty of the adults in her world, she remains silent and subdued in their presence. Then scandal of the worst kind breaks at the shocking murder of Lord Erroll (Peter Sands) who was having an affair with the wife of Lord Brougham (Denholm Elliott). A front-page trial acquits Lord Brougham of the killing, but then in a moment of weakness and assuming that Juanita is too stupid to react, he lets her know that he actually did kill Lord Erroll. Juanita is thrown into a turmoil since she does not know what her next step should be -- she is obviously young and powerless. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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Starring:
Holly AirdDenholm Elliott, (more)