A new movie titled: “Barakat” is making waves across South Africa and helping to bridge religious divide.
Barakat, African Entertainment understands, is the first ever film in Afrikaaps.
Afrikaaps is a dialect of Afrikaans. African Entertainment gathered that ‘Barakat’ is helping to change the often one-dimensional, negative perception of Cape Town’s mixed-race community.
In Arabic, Barakat means blessings. The movie ‘Barakat’ was produced in the Cape Flats – a vast low-lying area to the south-east of Cape Town’s city centre.
The Cape Flats was where many disenfranchised people were forcibly moved by the former apartheid government in the 1950s.
Storyline
Barakat tells the story – in the rich Cape-flavoured dialect – of a widowed Muslim mother who finds a new love, a Christian man, whom she wishes to marry.
The widow, however finds difficulty in gaining the approval of her four sons, who are still coming to terms with the loss of their father.
Production credit for ‘Barakat’ goes to multiple award-winning movie director, Amy Jeptha.
Ms. Jeptha reportedly said she decided to produce the movie to show there is also a more hopeful side to the area – not just crime, gangs and drugs.
She is also reported to have said that the portrayal of the rich heritage of language and culture of the local communities was a major factor for doing the movie.
She was quoted by BBC as saying “There is a commonality between the Muslim and Christian cultures on the Cape Flats, the communities are so integrated.”
Ms. Jeptha, whose father is a Muslim and mother, a Christian, was further quoted as saying “In the communities I know, Christian people would be part of the annual Labarang [Eid] celebration in the same way that Muslim kids would often celebrate Christmas.”