Mapantsula was financed and filmed in South Africa, where it gained its widest distribution. Thomas Mogotlane stars as a black small-time thief. He spends the greater part of his life in jail, where he refuses to knuckle under to the race-motivated sadism of his white captors. The film doesn't solve much, but is good audience material, practically guaranteed to arouse anyone who's been beaten down by "the system." Mapantsula was lensed in a saturated European process known as Agfacolor.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide