Earlier this evening I took my buddy Electrostar and his friend out to the flicks, as I work as a projectionist & film technician for a new state-of-the-art 11-screen multiplex which opened it's doors in our hometown yesterday. After picking 'Tsotsi' as our group choice, we got suitably laden down with the usual stuff-your-face-until-you-explode goodies like popcorn, cokes etc and settled in to watch our film.



For what is essentially a gritty tale set in a crime-ridden slum, this is an astonishingly beautiful film in many different ways. It centres on a teen gang leader called 'Tsotsi'. (The word "tsotsi" means a black urban criminal, a street thug or gang member in the black townships of South Africa. Today the word is used more generally as a name for displaced young criminals, whereas in the past the word tended to conjure up a more glamorous gangster image, today it is more commonly associated with younger street gangs whose lives are often far from glamorous).

The story is basically about how Tsotsi's life turns upside down after he brutally carjacks a Mercedes belonging to a rich suburban couple, and discovers their infant baby still in the back seat. This leads him to a crisis of concience, and how he battles with confronting the demons of his past without losing the respect of his gang members who look up to him. When he suddenly comes over all paternal, he surprises even himself with his desire to give the baby the happy childhood he never had.

Played with a fantastic, brooding intensity by Presley Chweneyagae that belies his age of nineteen, he swaggers around his Soweto neighbourhood with his small gang, violently robbing and assaulting with no concern for life or property. After looking into it a little more when I returned home this evening, I was amazed to find that prior to this role, he had no formal drama training at all, only having acted in school plays and community theatre, which makes his convincing performance even more astounding.

It's a damned tough film to sit through at times, and certainly doesn't pull any punches. I found many scenes heart-wrenching - particularly Tsotsi's flashback scenes which show the loss of the things he loved and held dear, and later the scars and trauma these experiences have clearly left behind, shaping the boy with a lost childhood into the violent man we now see struggling to survive out on the streets.

Although gritty and real as possibly can be, I thought the film was increadibly beautiful in how it was shot (especially so considering this was the directors first feature length film) and convincingly performed by all involved. The film was based on a best-selling novel by South African playright Athol Fugard, who wrote it in the early Sixties, eventually finding a publisher in 1980. Apparently it is his one and only novel. The music score is quite brilliant too, and I'll be purchasing the soundtrack as soon as I'm able.

Personally, I have no problem with foreign films at all, and a lot of the time I hardly ever notice the subs anyway. So if you liked 'City of God', or simply haven't taken in a foreign film before, and want to go out on a limb and try something different than the usual 'switch off and watch things go boom' fare, then this is a really great one to start with. I promise you won't be disapointed if you open up and allow it in, it might just reward and surprise you.

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year


*Click the Tsotsi poster above to watch the trailer

I've heard good things about this, thanks for the review 'nana. I'd like to see it.

Lleena said:

Oh hush.

CUTE KID...



BUT IM ORG HUMPED THIS THREAD!


YEE TI TEEEE

What a great film. What an awesome new 11 screen cinema on my door step!