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A criminally good story
TSOTSI
Directed by Gavin Hood
Certificate 15
THE Oscar winner this year in the Foreign Language Category
is an astonishing South African/British production which surprises
as it delights, educates as it entertains and at every turn
proves that small tales can have huge impacts.
Centring on the life and career of a young criminal, director/writer
Gavin Hood brings us the story of Tsotsi, the word itself meaning
hoodlum.
Tsosti is a young violent boy who, we learn in flashbacks, had
a terrible father and a dying mother.
Nothing in his past readies him for a proper life. Even the
other criminals he hangs around with see him as a real hardman,
even if he is still a teenager.
Based on the 1961 novel by Athol Fugard, the story is set in
Johannesburg’s shanties, where people struggle just to
get enough to eat and to keep their children clean.
Our protagonist, deftly played by the perfectly cast Presley
Chweneyagae, is the latest in a long line of big time criminals,
only this time he gets his comeuppance in a way that few would
be able to overcome or resist.
After brutally killing a man in a train, Tsotsi’s little
gang of misfits lays low for awhile, having fallen out after
the brutality of the crime. In the pouring rain, Tsotsi goes
out to turn one more crime – to rob a woman and steal her
car – but discovers to his horror that the car contains
her baby son.
Instead of doing what he wants to at first – abandon the
child – Tsotsi takes him home, risking his life and safety
and reputation to keep the child alive and happy.
The upturn of all this is that we see the transformation of
the boy to the man and it is done in such a complete and compelling
way to make Tsotsi the film must-see viewing.
A film that features everything to make us fear and hate the
evil in life, Tsotsi is also wise enough to show us its immense
beauty, mystery and uncertainty. |
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