‘WITNESS TO APARTHEID’ : SOUTH AFRICA LIFTS ITS BAN ON FILM

The government on Thursday lifted its ban on “Witness to Apartheid,” a documentary nominated for an Academy Award.

The film, made by Kevin Harris of Johannesburg and Sharon Sopher of New York, portrays the impact of the country’s continuing civil unrest on various South Africans and features such prominent anti-apartheid campaigners as Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace laureate.

But much of the controversy here around the film stems from its detailed recording of black charges of government persecution and police brutality during the state of emergency in 1985.

One black activist featured in the film, Dr. Fabian Ribero, a prominent physician, and his wife were recently assassinated near Pretoria, and one of the cases of alleged police brutality, the fatal shooting of a Soweto high school student, was brought to trial here this month. The policeman charged with murder was acquitted.

The South African Publications Appeals Board, which overturned a March 6 government order banning the film, said it believed that those viewing it “would be able to distinguish between that which is clearly one-sided and those opinions expressed honestly.”

“The truths in the film should be allowed to speak for themselves, as should the cliches, of which there are many obvious ones,” the board said, criticizing what it calls the film’s “one-sided presentation and lack of balance” but upholding viewers’ rights to make their own judgment.

“It is not likely to incite the audiences to racial hatred or to further violence,” the board said, rejecting government arguments that the film poses a threat to the country’s security. “In fact, the film does not set out to do this.

“Like most political pleas, however, the film is biased in favor of the cause of those who are said to be suffering. The case is often overstated. Nothing is said which would favor the opposite point of view of explain the underlying reasons for certain occurrences.”

In lifting the ban, the board did restrict the film’s screening to small cinema audiences of no more than 200 and limited showings to those over 18.

The film was first shown on British television last year and has been widely screened in the United States, Western Europe and Australia since. It is one of five films nominated in the documentary category of the Oscars, which will be awarded Monday.