The film Cry Freedom is an exploration of apartheid in South Africa, and Steve Biko's leadership of the oppressed blacks. Biko sparked the freedom movement against the white government that lead to the ultimate demise of apartheid. This essay includes a description of the conditions of apartheid.

In Sir Richard Attenborough's film "Cry Freedom," Steve Biko is an important figure because of his ongoing nonviolent resistance against racism in South Africa, which leads to his eventual martyrdom. Through Biko's treatment as a black man by the white-ruled South African government, Attenborough was able to show the extent of racism and unequal treatment that took place in South Africa during that time.