Freedom: A scene from the movie ‘Sarafina!’, about the June 16 student uprising, with Leleti Khumalo (centre) as the lead character.
It’s been 31 years since Sarafina! hit our screens. It is a movie that proclaims how women were at the forefront of the struggle and it is fitting that the remastered version should come out during Women’s Month.
Anant Singh, producer of the film, said Sarafina! is known for its association with the student uprising of 16 June 1976 but what the film also shows is that the youth of that era were supported by strong and resilient women who inspired and motivated their activism.
“As such, Sarafina! acknowledges the critical, though sometimes unacknowledged, role that women played as the soul of the struggle.
“We are thrilled to include previously unseen footage, which features the heartwarming song Thank You Mama, performed by Miriam Makeba and Leleti Khumalo.
“This digitally remastered version of the film will deliver an enhanced experience to the audience,” he says.
The remastered version was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France last month where it once again made the official selection, this time in the Cannes Classics Section, 31 years after its world premiere at this prestigious event.
I remember my first encounter with the film Sarafina!, which is based on Mbongeni Ngema’s 1987 musical of the same title. It was the last weekend of the June school holidays. It was so cold. We had the smallest oil heater which we would throw a blanket over to get it warm and then take turns under it.
Our home was always full of cousins, uncles and aunts who had come from Limpopo (my dad’s side of the family) and KwaZulu-Natal (my mother’s side of the family) to Johannesburg to look for jobs or go to school.
We had cassette tapes with a couple of odd movies that we would watch over and over again, Shaka Zulu being one of them. This time, my dad managed to score a Sarafina! tape and we were locked in and ready to go.
We were shocked by it but we were scared to ask questions because every time we glanced at our elders, we saw their clenched jaws and the sheer pain on their faces.
I remember all of us being quiet and relearning where we came from and how privileged we were.
Sarafina! delved into what our textbooks and teachers were afraid — or even embarrassed in the case of the latter — to tell us about the history of our country, particularly the struggle for a democratic South Africa. This was probably the shortest section in our history syllabus.
When we got to school on the Monday after watching Sarafina!, it turned out the entire school had seen it and the shock and deep pain was felt by most on the grounds.
I struggled to give my opinion and I know my siblings did too.
Our mother had been in exile and she had left the country very young. This is something we had never spoken about as a family.
We would overhear stories when some of the friends who had been with her in Tanzania came to our home and they talked about their time there. It was usually loud, with music playing and adults having multiple conversations, so we could not properly hear the stories of how they survived those camps.
I thought about my mother a lot after watching Sarafina!. I thought about the damage and pain the struggle might have caused her and I understood her better than ever.
Her temperament, her deep quietness, and the pain in her voice when she ran out of words to express herself. I had to understand that she was raised by the struggle.
Actress Khumalo, who played Sarafina in the stage version in the 1980s as well as the original movie, told the Mail & Guardian that the story has always had reach and will always have an impact on South Africans.
“We lived this story, that’s why everything translated as it did on screen, because we lived it,” she says.
Khumalo says she toured the US for four years with the other cast members of the Sarafina! theatre production. It was when she returned home that she heard the play was being turned into a movie.
Most of the cast members had no experience on screen — the theatre was all they knew — and it was a challenge for them to make the film, especially the young Khumalo.
“You must understand that the whole production fought for me, everyone. Sarafina was meant to be played by Whitney Houston but everyone fought for me to play that part.
“I remember the first day of shooting — my first scene was with the legendary Whoopi Goldberg. I was so nervous and I was constantly missing my line.
“I remember Whoopi calling me to the side asking me what the problem is. I just told her the truth and she reminded me that I am the star of the show and that she would stand by me all the way. She then asked production to cancel that day so I could come back ready the next day,” Khumalo says.
Therein lies the power of women who understand that holding each others’ hands gives us refuge and courage, the same courage and refuge I saw in my mother who housed most of her family, and my father’s family, in our home, for years.
Khumalo says she is reliving Sarafina! all over again because of the remaster, and it has conjured up old memories.
“So many people are gone. We have lost so many of our cast members. So, just watching how young we were, and playing back some memories we had on set, just brings back a whole host of emotions.
“We want to enjoy it but you can’t help but look at how far we have come,” she says.
At the premiere, many were emotional. Time had passed and Sarafina! was a time capsule that took them back to when they were young, passionate storytellers.
I took my little sister to the premiere. She had watched the movie before but not with the despondency she has been feeling about where our country is at. Given the opportunity, she would leave because, from where she is standing, it does not look as if things are going to get any better.
She kept speaking to me during the movie (which I did not appreciate) and, from the whispers, all I heard was, “We need to vote.”
She says if young people could have the same fire the youth of 1976 had, we could drive change.
“We have to vote, we have the power to instil change!”
Well, I am happy that my sister is not going anywhere anytime soon but I knew exactly how she was feeling. I know what it feels like to be affected by the spirits that lie in the soil, those who paid a heavy price for me to be where I am and have the things that I have.
Sarafina! forms part of the visual interpretation of what is in the history books, as well as the parts of history that some find too painful to talk about. It will also forever pay homage to the women who shaped the struggle.
“We must remember … especially the women who held the fort and were fearless, not only on June 16 or other holidays on the calendar. We must remember them every day in the big and little things that we achieve as individuals and as a country,” Khumalo says. The remastered Sarafina! is showing at Imax theatres nationwide.