Sarafina! Backdrop Blur
Sarafina! Poster

Sarafina!

"She was their teacher. They were her hope."

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.

Top Cast

  • Leleti Khumalo

    Leleti Khumalo

    Sarafina

  • Whoopi Goldberg

    Whoopi Goldberg

    Mary Masembuko

  • John Kani

    John Kani

    School Principal

  • Miriam Makeba

    Miriam Makeba

    Angelina

  • Mary Twala

    Mary Twala

    Sarafina's Grandmother

  • Dumisani Dlamini

    Dumisani Dlamini

    Crocodile

  • Mbongeni Ngema

    Mbongeni Ngema

    Sabela

  • Tertius Meintjes

    Tertius Meintjes

    Lieutenant Bloem

  • Robert Whitehead

    Robert Whitehead

    Interrogator

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.

Trailers & Clips

Related Movies

The Sound of Music Live!

The Sound of Music Live! is a television special that was originally broadcast by NBC on December 5, 2013. Produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the special was an adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical The Sound of Music, starring country singer Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp, performed and televised live from Grumman Studios in Bethpage, New York. Meron felt that if the telecast were successful, the concept could become "another kind of entertainment that can exist on TV." By her request, Underwood's casting as Maria was personally endorsed by Julie Andrews, who starred in the 1965 film.

The Sound of Music Live!

6.3 2013