Sarafina! (1992)

  • PG-13
  • 09/18/1992 (US)
  • Music, Drama, Family
  • 1h 57m

She was their teacher. They were her hope.

Overview

The plot centers on students involved in the Soweto Riots, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools. The stage version presents a school uprising similar to the Soweto uprising on June 16, 1976. A narrator introduces several characters among them the school girl activist Sarafina. Things get out of control when a policeman shoots several pupils in a classroom. Nevertheless, the musical ends with a cheerful farewell show of pupils leaving school, which takes most of act two. In the movie version Sarafina feels shame at her mother's (played by Miriam Makeba in the film) acceptance of her role as domestic servant in a white household in apartheid South Africa, and inspires her peers to rise up in protest, especially after her inspirational teacher, Mary Masombuka (played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film version) is imprisoned.

Darrell James Roodt

Director

Mbongeni Ngema

Screenplay

William Nicholson

Screenplay

Cast

Leleti Khumalo's headshot

Leleti Khumalo

Sarafina
Whoopi Goldberg's headshot

Whoopi Goldberg

Mary Masembuko
John Kani's headshot

John Kani

School Principal
Miriam Makeba's headshot

Miriam Makeba

Angelina
Mary Twala's headshot

Mary Twala

Sarafina's Grandmother
Dumisani Dlamini's headshot

Dumisani Dlamini

Crocodile
Mbongeni Ngema's headshot

Mbongeni Ngema

Sabela
Tertius Meintjes's headshot

Tertius Meintjes

Lieutenant Bloem

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