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Mapantsula

Play trailer 2:07 Poster for Mapantsula 1989 1h 45m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 83% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
During demonstrations in apartheid-era South Africa, the police arrest Panic (Thomas Mogotlane), a "mapantsula" or petty gangster, while rounding up activists. His interrogation reveals the motivation for his involvement in the township riots. Once only concerned with partying, alcohol and his own interests, Panic finds himself being irreversibly pulled into the fray. Now, he is forced to choose between his personal freedom and taking a stand in the fight against the oppressive apartheid government.
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Mapantsula

Critics Reviews

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Janet Maslin New York Times 06/30/2023
Mr. Mogotlane makes Panic much more than a symbol, treating him as a raffish, amusingly overconfident figure at first and a visibly shaken man as the film progresses, until at last he utters the single syllable that encapsulates the film's final point. Go to Full Review
Michael Wilmington Los Angeles Times 06/30/2023
The film starts as a racy gangster melodrama with an unusually pungent low-life city background, then builds inexorably to a moral reckoning, a ferocious, unforgettable denouement. Go to Full Review
Tony Rayns Time Out 06/24/2006
The result has much the same energy that Lino Brocka brings to his Filipino slum melodramas, and it gets far closer to the sights, sounds, smells and rhythms of Soweto life than an entire Attenborough of white liberal movies. Go to Full Review
Bradley Gibson Film Threat 07/29/2024
8/10
Mapantsula came out in a world with a different set of challenges than we face in 2024, and we are changed people from those who lived in 1988. The contrast is enlightening and interesting. Go to Full Review
David Parkinson Radio Times 08/30/2004
4.5/5
Thomas Mogotlane excels as Panic, the eminently resistible thief who reveals unsuspected levels of determination and dignity as he endures the same sadistic brutality as the militant activists with whom he shares a cell. Go to Full Review
Film4 Staff Film4 05/24/2003
An intelligent and passionate voice from South Africa, from a period when its government was doing all in its power to deny such things. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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07/05/2012 Great, honest portrayal of the reality of apartheid. Deserves more recognition. See more 06/15/2008 Mapantsula - made secretly in S Africa under the aparthied govt on a minimal budget - is a remarkable film detailing the incarceration of a young Bantu street criminal who comes to understand that militant action is the only way to change South Africa's racist social order. Not as straight forward as one might expect of such a film, it skillfully cross cuts between the police interrogation of 'Panic' and the circumstances leading up his arrest for petty crime (using a similar narrative structure to Citizen Kane and Dead Man's Shoes) set against the Soweto uprising of the 1970s. As with much of the most interesting and challenging World cinema - 'The Harder they Come' for instance - the central character - a dispossesed 'Other' uses violent action as it provides the only means to achieve a sense of human dignity and empowerment. A brilliant under-rated and hard to find gem, which i originally saw on release (with only 6 other people in the entire cinema!) and which advocates a powerful underlying radical politics. Try to hunt it out- let me know if anyone spots it on DVD as its a must for any anyone genuinely interested in world cinema. An incredible achievement See more 03/17/2008 I thought this was a really great film. But nobody seems to have seen it. A rare triumph of cinema to ocntain so much power and have such a well thought out ending with impact. I enjoyed most of the film and never felt tedious or duped like most films do to me. This review is wierd. Another knotch on the belt, ehh?! See more Read all reviews
Mapantsula

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Movie Info

Synopsis During demonstrations in apartheid-era South Africa, the police arrest Panic (Thomas Mogotlane), a "mapantsula" or petty gangster, while rounding up activists. His interrogation reveals the motivation for his involvement in the township riots. Once only concerned with partying, alcohol and his own interests, Panic finds himself being irreversibly pulled into the fray. Now, he is forced to choose between his personal freedom and taking a stand in the fight against the oppressive apartheid government.
Director
Oliver Schmitz
Producer
Oliver Schmitz, Max Montocchio
Screenwriter
Oliver Schmitz, Thomas Mogotlane
Distributor
California Newsreel
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 3, 1989, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Jul 26, 2024
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 28, 2025
Box Office (Gross USA)
$6.7K
Runtime
1h 45m
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