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Jamaa Fanaka’s Penitentiary (1979) is about boxing, but its first, longest, and most brutal fight centers on grappling. In lieu of boxing’s reliance on discrete blows, the combatants—protagonist Martel “Too Sweet” Gordone (Leon Isaac Kennedy) and “Half Dead” Johnson (Badja Djola)—spend most of the grueling, eight-minute struggle in a variety of arm locks and chokeholds. With boxing, one punch ends before the next is thrown, which means that, in theory, a nimble fighter could go entire rounds without being struck. By contrast, this scene conveys a sense of unrelenting tension, a constant straining of every bodily fiber to survive for one second longer, to come out just barely on top. There’s no respite, no time-out between bouts, just a state of extreme and prolonged exertion. Enhancing this impression is the low-key lighting, which shades and accentuates the fighters’ muscular c­­ontours to suggest bodies wound tight with fear and adrenaline,...