Sarafina! (film)


Sarafina! is a 1992 musical drama film based on Mbongeni Ngema's 1987 musical of the same name. The film was directed by Darrell Roodt and written by Ngema and William Nicholson, and stars Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, John Kani, Ngema, and Whoopi Goldberg; Khumalo reprises her role from the stage performance.
An international co-production of the United States, South Africa, France, and the United Kingdom, the film premiered on May 11, 1992, at the Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The plot centres on students involved in the Soweto Uprising, in opposition to the implementation of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in schools.
The character Sarafina feels shame at her mother's 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 is imprisoned. In the opening scene, Sarafina is seen talking while staring at Nelson Mandela's picture, at the time the South African icon was still imprisoned. In a later scene Sarafina is again talking while staring at Mandela's picture on the wall, criticizing him for being gone for a long time and not responding to the nation's pleas, idolising him as someone who can change the horrific situation that South Africa is in.

Production

Filming

The film was shot on location in Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa. Darrell Roodt directed, with the script by Mbongeni Ngema and William Nicholson. Leleti Khumalo reprised her role as Sarafina, with Whoopi Goldberg as Mary Masembuko and Miriam Makeba as Angeline.
Companies involved included the British Broadcasting Corporation. In the United States, the MPAA, rated the film PG-13 for scenes of apartheid-driven violence. The extended version, released in 1995, was rated R for scenes of violence.
For Whoopi Goldberg, this was a project she was determined to be a part of; in order to convince the executives at Disney to make this film she agreed to reprise her role as Dolores Van Cartier in , which Disney was keen to make since the original had brought in $231,605,150 worldwide.

Reception

Accolades

The film was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. Whoopi Goldberg mentioned on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, that the LA riots due to Rodney King happened at the same time that Sarafina! was released which resulted in the movie not being so well known in the US. The film holds a 60% "certified fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Release

The film was released on 18 September 1992. Sarafina! was re-released in South Africa on 16 June 2006 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Soweto uprising in Soweto. The re-mastered director’s cut is not very different from the original, except for the inclusion of one scene that was cut from the original, between Leleti Khumalo and Miriam Makeba, which includes a musical number "Thank You Mama".

Box office

Sarafina! grossed $7,306,242 in North American box office receipts.