Sarafina!

Sarafina! is set in Soweto in 1976, where black South African students live under the restrictions of apartheid while their parents work in white households. A schoolgirl, Sarafina, is ashamed that her mother has accepted a life as a domestic servant, but she finds purpose through her history teacher, Mary Masembuko, who encourages pupils to take pride in their heritage. When the teacher is arrested for her activism, Sarafina and her classmates are pushed toward protest.

The film was directed by Darrell James Roodt, and it was the first of the six features he made, followed by Father Hood, Second Skin, Dracula 3000, Prey and Lake Placid: Legacy. The screenplay was written by Mbongeni Ngema and William Nicholson, and David M. Thompson and Anant Singh produced. Leleti Khumalo plays Sarafina, with Whoopi Goldberg as Mary Masembuko, John Kani as the school principal, Miriam Makeba as Angelina, Mary Twala as Sarafina's grandmother, and Dumisani Dlamini as Crocodile. It runs 117 minutes and blends drama with music.

The production brought together companies from several countries. Its worldwide box office came to about 7 million dollars, a modest return for a musical drama with this cast. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from roughly 2,400 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.1 out of 10 from a much smaller group of 48. The two audience scores are close, suggesting a similar, fairly favourable response from those who have seen it.