Sarafina! (Sarafina!)

An adaptation of Mbongeni Ngema's popular musical, "Sarafina!" recounts the political coming of age of the title character, a high school girl involved in the Soweto student protests of 1976. At first more interested in boys than civil rights, Sarafina learns of the Afrikaaner oppression through the underground lectures of her teacher, Mary Masembuko. Sarafina's mother, who works as a servant in an affluent white suburb and never sees her children, urges Sarafina to toe the line. But she can no longer turn a blind eye when the government imprisons her teacher and slaughters her would-be boyfriend during an arson protest. Incited to rebellion, the students kill a crooked black constable, leaving Sarafina to wrestle with their decision to use violence against the government's strictures. Ever tightening its grip, the ruling regime would kill 575 blacks over eight months in an attempt to quell the civil unrest. "Sarafina!" is a story of war, violence and the tragic loss of childhood innocence.