MOVIES - Jan. 11, 1988

South African newspapers Friday began running advertisements for Sir Richard Attenborough’s “Cry Freedom,” the film about black activist Steve Biko that stirred controversy in South Africa even before its release. Full-page ads appeared in the Star, the country’s largest daily, and the Sowetan, which serves readers in the sprawling black township of Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg. In December, in response to a challenge leveled by Universal Pictures’ President Tom Pollock, government censors said they would allow uncut showings of the film, scheduled to open in South Africa within a few months. “Cry Freedom,” directed by Attenborough, already has appeared in the United States, Britain and elsewhere.