Great, honest portrayal of the reality of apartheid. Deserves more recognition.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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?!
