Sarafina!
((South African--Musical--Color))
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CANNES--Opening up "Sarafina!" for the screen has given the popular musical a dimension it never had onstage. Powerfully lensed on location in Soweto, emotionally and politically impassioned piece effectively registers the anger and hope of the anti-apartheid movement in an infectious musical context, and has been imaginatively reconceived for film. With in-depth promotion targeting all potential audience segments, B.O. picture could be bright.
Mgongeni Ngema's theatrical production, a Broadway hit in 1988 (it was staged at the Doolittle in Hollywood last year) and still going on international tour, was set principally at the township high school. Institution still serves as the symbolic center of the action, but, along the lines of "West Side Story," liberating the show from a restricted environment has created innumerable opportunities for expanding the story's impact.
In theory, the idea of having dozens of teenagers romping in rambunctious choreography through the dusty, impoverished neighborhoods of Soweto under the threatening surveillance of armed police stood a good chance of not working--placing such stylized activity in grimly realistic setting has frequently misfired in the past.
Perhaps it's the fact that the music of "Sarafina!" is indigenous to these very streets that puts it across. In any event, after a somewhat dubious opening in which Soweto literally goes Hollywood, complete with a gigantic "Soweto," sign and mock Oscar, pic clicks in as students try to pursue such normal activities as getting an education and putting on a show under the strictures of emergency rule.
Inspiring teacher Whoopi Goldberg gives an amusingly apt history lesson, but casting a pall over everything is a firebombing of the school. Clearly, an element among the students sees violence as the only solution, something the authorities are only too happy to repay in kind.
The beautiful Sarafina provides a window for a compressed history of South Africa from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. Living in the township while her mother works as a domestic in an affluent white suburb, Sarafina, who idolizes Nelson Mandela, sees a fellow student she may fancy shot dead by police , participates in the rioting following the shooting of more blacks, takes part in the torching of a black officer who works for the whites, and is tortured in prison during a time when as many as 8,000 children were incarcerated.
The violence is presented in fully realistic detail, and all of it, especially the mob killing of the cop, carries a tremendous impact. So do scenes between Sarafina and her mother, where two generations come to terms with the different ways they have fought the same struggle.
Show was written and staged before Mandela was released from prison and the dismantling of apartheid was initiated, so film has a different, but perhaps more elating, effect in the wake of these historic events.
Terrific songs by Ngema and Hugh Masaskela propel the work at a fine clip and are exceedingly well performed and staged. Technical side of the film matches anything Hollywood could have done with much more money.
Tony-nominated for her performance in the role on Broadway, Leleti Khumalo is a sensational Sarafina. A singing and dancing whirlwind and an energetic actress , she is one of those people the camera loves, and so projects marvelously onscreen.
Goldberg socks over her sizable supporting role as an irreverent, politically aware teacher, and Miriam Makeba virtually defines dignity and compassion as Sarafina's mother. Performances down the line by the huge cast are strong.
Young South African director Darrell James Roodt, previously noted at fests and on the art house circuit for such pix as "Place Of Weeping,""The Stick" and "Jobman," has done an impressive job of synthesizing the project's diverse elements and reconceiving a well-loved piece in cinematic terms. Only letdown is the climactic production number imagining the day of Mandela's release, which is rather sketchily realized and abbreviated.
Camera (color), Mark Vicente; editors, Peter Hollywood, Sarah Thomas; music and lyrics, Ngema; additional songs, Hugh Masekela; music score, Stanley Myers; production design, David Barkham; choreography, Michael Peters, Ngema; Dolby sound; associate producers, Helena Spring, Sanjeev Singh. Reviewed at the Cannes Film Festival (non-competing), May 11, 1992. Running time: 115 min.
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