Bopha!: Difference between revisions
m →External links: clean up using AWB |
m remove deprecated paramters from infobox, removed Stub tag using AWB |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Infobox |
{{Infobox film | name = Bopha! |
||
| image = Bophaposter.jpg |
| image = Bophaposter.jpg |
||
| caption = Theatrical release poster |
| caption = Theatrical release poster |
||
| Line 15: | Line 15: | ||
| language = [[English language|English]] |
| language = [[English language|English]] |
||
| rating = [[PG-13]] |
| rating = [[PG-13]] |
||
| budget = |
| budget = |
||
| preceded_by = |
| preceded_by = |
||
| followed_by = |
| followed_by = |
||
| ⚫ | |||
| imdb_id = 0106464 |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
'''''Bopha!''''' is a [[1993 in film|1993]] [[drama film|drama]] [[film]] directed by [[Morgan Freeman]] and starring [[Danny Glover]]. It was adapted from a 1986 [[Play (theatre)|play]] by [[Percy Mtwa]] and was Freeman's directorial debut. |
'''''Bopha!''''' is a [[1993 in film|1993]] [[drama film|drama]] [[film]] directed by [[Morgan Freeman]] and starring [[Danny Glover]]. It was adapted from a 1986 [[Play (theatre)|play]] by [[Percy Mtwa]] and was Freeman's directorial debut. |
||
| Line 30: | Line 29: | ||
Glover plays Micah Mangena, a [[black (people)|black]] [[police officer]] in [[South Africa]] during the [[History of South Africa in the apartheid era|apartheid era]]. Micah is tough but honest, and he genuinely believes he is doing the best for his people. He is a sergeant, with a white superior officer and in a mostly-black force. You see him training new recruits, all of them black. |
Glover plays Micah Mangena, a [[black (people)|black]] [[police officer]] in [[South Africa]] during the [[History of South Africa in the apartheid era|apartheid era]]. Micah is tough but honest, and he genuinely believes he is doing the best for his people. He is a sergeant, with a white superior officer and in a mostly-black force. You see him training new recruits, all of them black. |
||
His son Zweli Mangena is in a difficult position - Micah wants him to become a policeman and follow his example. Zweli loves his father but has doubts about whether it is right to follow in his father's footsteps blindly. |
His son Zweli Mangena is in a difficult position - Micah wants him to become a policeman and follow his example. Zweli loves his father but has doubts about whether it is right to follow in his father's footsteps blindly. |
||
Wider events are barely seen, though they obviously have an influence. In 1986, when the play was written, [[Nelson Mandela]] was still in prison. By 1993, when the film was released, he was free but the future was still very uncertain. ''Bopha'' says little about such matters. This is a conflict in a small township involving people of which the outside world would not have heard. |
Wider events are barely seen, though they obviously have an influence. In 1986, when the play was written, [[Nelson Mandela]] was still in prison. By 1993, when the film was released, he was free but the future was still very uncertain. ''Bopha'' says little about such matters. This is a conflict in a small township involving people of which the outside world would not have heard. |
||
| Line 49: | Line 48: | ||
== External links == |
== External links == |
||
*{{ |
*{{Imdb title|id=0106464|title=Bopha!}} |
||
[[Category:1993 films]] |
[[Category:1993 films]] |
||
| Line 58: | Line 57: | ||
[[Category:English-language films]] |
[[Category:English-language films]] |
||
[[Category:Films directed by actors]] |
[[Category:Films directed by actors]] |
||
{{1990s-drama-film-stub}} |
|||
[[fr:Bopha !]] |
[[fr:Bopha !]] |
||
Revision as of 20:53, 1 December 2009
| Bopha! | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Morgan Freeman |
| Written by | Brian Bird John Wierick |
| Produced by | Lawrence N. Taubman |
| Starring | Danny Glover |
| Cinematography | David Watkin |
| Edited by | Neil Travis |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release dates | September 17, 1993 |
Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Bopha! is a 1993 drama film directed by Morgan Freeman and starring Danny Glover. It was adapted from a 1986 play by Percy Mtwa and was Freeman's directorial debut.
DVD release
The film was released as a DVD in 2005. The DVD has a running-time of 114 minutes, 6 minutes less than the film.
Story
Glover plays Micah Mangena, a black police officer in South Africa during the apartheid era. Micah is tough but honest, and he genuinely believes he is doing the best for his people. He is a sergeant, with a white superior officer and in a mostly-black force. You see him training new recruits, all of them black.
His son Zweli Mangena is in a difficult position - Micah wants him to become a policeman and follow his example. Zweli loves his father but has doubts about whether it is right to follow in his father's footsteps blindly.
Wider events are barely seen, though they obviously have an influence. In 1986, when the play was written, Nelson Mandela was still in prison. By 1993, when the film was released, he was free but the future was still very uncertain. Bopha says little about such matters. This is a conflict in a small township involving people of which the outside world would not have heard.
Plot
The film opens with a black crowd burning alive a black man they regard as a traitor. It then switches to the peaceful home of Micah Mangena, a black sergeant in the South African Police Force.
His son Zweli Mangena increasingly questions Micah belief and Micah's wish that Zweli would follow him into the police. Micha's wife also has doubts as the once-peaceful township gets polarised and her neighbours start treating her as an enemy.
The initial issue is the use of Afrikaans in the all-black school. The school children speak English, Afrikaans and their own African language, but they resent being taught Afrikaans. To reply in English is an act of rebellion.
Zweli dislikes the system but fears the consequence of open opposition. He arranges a meeting between some of the hot-heads and Pule Rampa, a respected figure who has been in prison for anti-Apartheid activities. He seems to be trying to calm the situation, but the police have learned of the gathering and break it up, arresting some of the students and also Pule Rampa. He had been trying to slip away quietly, but Micah anticipates this and arrests him. Micah is in charge of the operation and has attempted moderation, letting some of the students go free.
Micah wants to conduct his own questioning. But two members of South Africa's Special Branch have recently arrived and take over. They employ much more brutal methods. Both Micah and his white superior suggest to the Special Branch men that they are perhaps provoking opposition rather than quelling it.
The situation does indeed escalate. Micah and Zweli are increasingly on opposite sides of a widening gap, even though each of them genuinely cares for the other.