Using Sarafina in English class

I like to use movies as an adjunct to my English class in a remote rural part of India. I find that Sarafina is a very good movie for this purpose. I like to show movies from different countries, and aside from Whoopie Goldberg, I think all the other actors in this are South African. My students get exposed to a different accent of English, which I think is is good thing, and the subtitles are accurate in case they can't catch the words by ear. Being Indian, my students are not at all bothered by musical dance numbers coming in the middle of a movie, and overall I find this movie a good way of learning a little about apartheid by getting interested in lives of people fighting against it.

It's important to give some historical background: about apartheid and Mandela, and that there really were student protests where police killed children, but that of course there were not these particular characters. Also it's very important to follow up with the fact that apartheid ended, Mandela became president and is now retired, and that South Africa is a very different place today in many ways.

Related learning activities include reading some of the two or three simple English or kids' biographies of Mandela that we have in our library. There could be a good discussion about student protest, and about violence versus non-violence in protest. What would be the effects of lynching an unjust policeman as in this film? Would it solve any problems? Did they have any options? For lower level students, why did Sarafina do that with the gun?

This movie has no sexual content so it's fine for students from a conservative Asian culture, but the violence is pretty intense, though it serves an important role in the movie. So it would not be suitable for younger students. Mine are about 17 - 20 so it's okay.