DVD
100 minutes, 1988, South Africa Director: Oliver Schmitz in Afrikaans, English, Sotho and Zulu with English subtitles
ABOUT THE FILM
Mapantsula was the first anti-apartheid feature film by, for and about black South Africans. Filmed inside Soweto, scored to the urban beat of "Township Jive," Mapantsula has been called a South African The Harder They Come.
Mapantsula tells the story of Panic, a petty gangster who inevitably becomes caught up in the growing anti-apartheid struggle and has to choose between individual gain and a united stand against the system. Mapantsula will give viewers an insider's tour of township life and a foretaste of the vibrant popular cinema promised by the new, democratic South Africa.
CRITICAL COMMENT
"A moral drama in disguise...Our conscience and sense of outrage are ripped open."
Los Angeles Times
"It's about time a feature film presents South Africa from a black perspective. Mapantsula does that and much more."
