Sarafina!, a review by KinkyCyborg
Sarafina!
Title:Sarafina!
Year: 1992
Director: Darrell Roodt
Rating: PG-13
Length: 0 Min.
Video: Full Frame 1.33:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: Stars:Whoopie Goldberg
John Kani
Leleti Khumalo
Miriam Makeba
Tertius Meintjes
Plot:Soweto, South Africa. A new world is opening up for a group of young black students, whose extraordinary teacher, Mary, defies the authorities and dares to teach her students truths not found in approved textbooks.
For one pupil in particular, young Sarafina, the forbidden curriculum will have a far-reaching impact in her life.
A brilliant educator, Mary inspires her students to take pride in their heritage and themselves. She also urges them to search for the truth and stand up for their individual rights.
Extras:Scene Access
My Thoughts:
Apartheid the musical.
Ugh... how I struggled through this movie. I've seen many movies that have dealt with the injustice and atrocities in South Africa during the incarceration of Nelson Mandela but this adds no new perspectives and quite frankly I found most of the musical bits to be a distraction. The songs sung by the children in their own native tongues with the subtitled translations were quite beautiful but I found the english songs done to a hybrid hip hop/Bollywood type of choreography to be very tacky.
The inclusion of Whoopi Goldberg did little to help this movie and her performance came across as a bit self serving, attaching herself to a cause or movement. The musical magic from her Sister Act flicks was nowhere to be found in this one.
I'm sure this was an artistic interpretation of Apartheid but to me it comes across as mocking.
KC
Rating:
(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on January 9th, 2011)
Users: 0
July 13, 2025, 10:00:56 AM