Mapantsula

Shot in Johannesburg and Soweto by Oliver Schmitz, a white South African, this radical 1988 feature offers a grittier view of the antiapartheid movement than Cry Freedom or A World Apart, both from the same period. A petty thief (Thomas Mogotlane) winds up in jail, meets other blacks involved in protesting racism, and gradually becomes politically aware. Banned in South Africa upon release, the film conveys a volatile sense of both time and placeaccording to the South African censor, it had the power to incite probable viewers to act violently. In English and subtitled Afrikaans, Sotho, and Zulu. 102 min. (JR)

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