Mapantsula

The film opens with a heated protest and a brutal police crackdown. A voiceover reminds viewers that those detained violated the Internal Security Act by gathering without permission. Panic, along with other prisoners, is herded into a crowded cell, marking the beginning of his perilous life under apartheid.

Panic and his partner Dingaan ambush a white man on a busy Johannesburg street, wielding a knife as the victim resists. They loot his wallet and later celebrate at a corner store, trading bravado about their misdeeds. Dingaan even suggests they quit, but Panic's temperament remains reckless.

Panic returns to the Soweto township and rents a small one‑room home from Ma Mobise. She warns him to stay out of trouble, noting his tsotsi image and the burden of rising rents. Her son Sam listens as the talk unfolds.

Panic is brought into Stander’s orbit as the police begin to interrogate him. In the office, Stander asks whether Panic speaks Afrikaans, and Panic replies that he does not. The exchange signals the growing scrutiny Panic will face from the authorities.

Back in prison, Panic is interrogated about his extensive criminal history as cells overflow with detainees. Stander implies Panic has been working for the police, highlighting the uneasy lines between informant and suspect. Panic resists, but the pressure mounts as the system tightens around him.

Pat, Panic’s girlfriend, works as a housemaid for Joyce, a white employer. Panic asks Joyce for money, but she sends him away, deepening his financial precarity. Ma Mobise lectures Panic about rising rents and the need to stay out of trouble.

Panic and Dingaan reconvene in a bar after a failed theft, where a thief confronts Panic about his jail record. A white officer arrives and accuses the group of terrorists, underscoring the state’s punitive framing of Black suspects. Panic is eventually hauled to Stander’s office for questioning.

Panic dresses in a suit and visits Joyce’s house to see Pat, who sends him away in anger. Joyce brings a dog to threaten him, and Panic retaliates by throwing a brick through her window. The incident further destabilizes his precarious ties to Pat and Joyce.

Pat is fired from her job as a housemaid. Sam takes Pat to a local African National Congress gathering where residents press the mayor to curb rent increases. Duma speaks out against the mayor and the current order, widening Panic’s political stakes.

Panic and Dingaan target a wealthy shopper in a mall, but the man resists. Panic stabs him, and the duo flee to a movie theater. Afterward, Dingaan tells Panic he wants nothing more to do with him, deepening Panic’s isolation and resolve.

A funeral in Soweto provokes a violent police response, and Sam is taken away as the crowd riots. Ma Mobise runs into the street to demand justice and is shot in the chaos. Panic and Duma slip through the turmoil, hunted by soldiers.

In Stander’s office a record- and riot-based confession is placed before Panic, accusing him of aiding Duma. Panic refuses to sign the confession, staring straight at the camera as the film ends.