Tsotsi (2005)

"Tsotsi" is a truly unforgettable film from 2005. It is currently available on NetFlix Instant Download Streaming. The director is Gavin Hod. The novel is by Athol Fugard and the screenwriter is Gavin Hood. Actors include Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Kenneth Nkosi and Mothusi Magano. Tsotsi is gorgeous, riveting, poignant, and thrilling. Not only is it a first-rate piece of storytelling, but it also takes the viewer into a world of South African poverty and crime that he has never seen before. Director/writer Gavin Hood offers us a tale of tragic redemption and uncommon poetry in a subculture of the most abject immorality. Truly unforgettable. The only work in recent times to which this movie can be compared is City of God. There, too, the viewer is brought into a world of poverty and crime he probably never knew existed. It is a world so bleak that it forces the viewer to examine his own morality and wonder how much of the civility he takes for granted in his life is merely the luxury of the well fed and comfortable. These characters live on the edge and their primary passion is survival. I gave it 8 stars. Dale Haufrect

The film begins with a game of dice, not just illustrating the usual vices some wayward and deprived youths might get up to in their spare time, but I think to tell us immediately how our trio of small-time gangsters are gambling with their fates. (As a friend pointed out, the lighting in this room, which the film frequently returns to, is marvellous, capturing the squalor intimately but also the illusion of beauty and mystery through the open window.) This foursome regularly go out and target people, based on their estimated affluence, as all logical thieves do, and rob them. One of them, Butcher, whose name clues us in on his tendencies, cannot correctly count the simple combination the dice has given him. He is an idiot, without any foresight, ignorant of the consequences. Significantly, Tsotsi, our titular character (Tsotsi meaning 'thug') doesn't participate in this game. He is the leader, their guide, he gambles with his life, but isn't aware of the poor dice he is about to roll. I suppose it is a testament to the film that despite all its conventions it is able to induce poignancy and tender reflection out of the smallest moments. I've been looking at Tsotsi closely alongside 'City of God' and 'La Haine', as part of my film course and this one is probably the weakest of the three. The others have a greater sense of place and character. They have their faults too, particularly notable is what I felt to be a level of uncomfortable glamorisation (however unintentional) in the first half of City of God, but otherwise these films explore more the individuality of their respective environments and the culture there. Tsotsi is more universal, a story of humanity in conflict with self- preservation, and ultimately the need for love, rather than an exploration of its world and the how's and why's of the people found in it. We have the simple premise of a person with a capacity for violence yet with a struggling compassion lost in an unforgiving world, haunted by his childhood and given the opportunity in life to allow his humanity to grow and find some modicum of redemption. It does feel perhaps a little pre-packaged, with certain moments designed to hit you in the right places and leave you nodding your head in approval. Dogs and Babies (or children in general) are two elements which are often a shortcut to the emotions, particularly for me at least as they evoke a more immediate response without the filmmaker necessarily having to work for it, which is of course a lazy and tired way of involving us in the film. Thankfully the baby which Tsotsi inadvertently steals is not used in this method, but is of course central to the film and the protagonist and is the catalyst for much change, and all the pain that comes with that. There's a real humanity here, and it's hard not to feel involved in Tsotsi's plight, and to ultimately care for all the people who life has forced into living in this world. Credit should largely be given to Tsotsi himself, Presley Chweneyagae, who as well as possessing an impressive name has a profound ability to express himself physically. Tsotsi is mostly without words, not just because he is the more pensive character but because this world hasn't afforded him any, and so we rely on his face to understand the motions he is going through, which are intimately conveyed and range from self-assured intimidation and violence through to desperation and confusion and finally unbridled compassion; the final scene in which (circumstances not revealed here) he is holding the baby, we are able to see the lost child who was never properly nurtured, and the broken man who has finally realised his responsibility. South African culture isn't represented often to the mainstream, and so the world here, and the voices of these people, and the music - although this sometimes has the habit of introducing those harmonising choirs you often hear in emotionally climatic moments that are attempting sensitivity or catharsis but are instead ingratiating and annoying, but in this case the foreign, 'tribal' feel works and the film in the end at least earns the usage of this sound - and their plight is welcome to the screen, and I'm sure Tsotsi can be a good starting place for further exploration. Despite its adherence to conventions and its relatively limited exploration of this world, it has a gift of being able to evoke a striking poignancy out of the small things. It takes all the plot and characters turns that it has accumulated and occasionally instead of going straight to the emotional check-list it stops and lets the drama unfold itself. Take the moment in which Tsotsi gathers his criminal friends/accomplices and goes back to the house of the baby whose parents he robbed. While the other two guys are pillaging the house, Tsotsi goes to the baby's nursery and observes quietly and wondrously. He looks at the sweeping safari wallpaper, the cot that sits in the corner, and sees these parents providing for their child, an ordinary and loving environment, it's nurturing, it's protective, and as well as what he never had, it's also the realisation that baby doesn't belong to him and that despite all the care and love that he is fully aware is capable of giving, he still can't give the baby what it needs. That hurts. And that is Tsotsi at its best.

Tsotsi, which translates as thug, is a young man from Soweto whose birth name we learn eventually is David. The film begins with Tsotsi and his gang killing a man for money. The murder creates strife within the gang and one of them - Boston aka Teacher Boy - challenges Tsotsi asking if he has any sense of decency or empathy with another. At this point we the audience are not persuaded that he does as his response is to beat Boston senseless.Tsotsi carries out a car jacking and discovers a baby in the back. He decides to take the baby with him rather than leave it. This decision alters Tsotsi's destiny; as he struggles with caring for the baby he rediscovers being David.The film's main theme is redemption. Another theme is that of being crippled. One of David's early memories is seeing his dad cripple his mother's Rottweiler. This memory represents the trauma of David's young life. Later he meets the crippled man who, forced to explain why he goes on living at gun point, tells Tsotsi that he enjoys feeling the warmth of the sun on his hands. Tsotsi discovers that the woman whose car and baby he stole has been left paralysed. All of this affects Tsotsi and he begins the process of changing back to being David. What is redeemed is his own emotionally crippled self.Beautifully shot the colour and light is used effectively not only to express the emotions of the film, but it's also representative of Tsotsi's journey back to the colour and light that shines on him like that from the mobile made of broken glass - an image of his fractured heart. The film extends its hand to the Tsotsis of South Africa.

"Tsotsi," directed by Gavin Hood is set in Johannesburg, South Africa and tells the story of Tsotsi, a young street thug. In the beginning, I was a bit skeptical of the movie because the violence in the movie made it difficult for me to watch. As the movie pans out, I became intrigued by Tsotsi and found myself feeling genuinely sorry for him regardless of his actions. In the beginning I did not like him at all, but later on we find out that his mother is dying and he is restricted from seeing her by his father. Tsotsi ends up fending for himself and as a result does anything he can to survive. In one of the scenes he steals a car only to find a baby in the backseat. Not knowing what to do, he ends up taking the baby and becomes frustrated with having to provide for it. He follows a woman home and threatens to shoot her. Tsotsi asks her to feed the baby knowing that she is capable of doing so. It's his woman and the baby that eventually makes him a less aggressive person. I liked the way the movie played out. The audience begins to find out things about Tsotsi that explain his behaviors which caused me to be intrigued and feel sorry for him. Gavin Hood's African cinematography was excellent and really painted a wonderful picture of South Africa. I liked the music and thought it accompanied the movie nicely. I would recommend this movie to most. However, there are some rather violent scenes in the movie. Overall, great acting by Presley Chweneyagae and directing by Gavin Hood.