Movie Review: Tsotsi

Can a thug learn to care about something, someone or himself? Tsotsi won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2005. The title comes from the alias of the main character and means "thug". This movie grabbed me and wouldn't let go, I couldn't look away. I found Tsotsi to be a cross between City of God, A Clockwork Orange, and Raising Arizona if that's at all conceivable.

The film opens with Tsotsi hanging around with his gang, Boston (the drunken intellectual), Butcher (the vicious killer) and Aap (the dumb ape), outside of Johannesburg South Africa. They go out to do the days theft and Butcher ends up killing a man. Tsotsi has little reaction to it but it bothers Boston who asks Tsotsi if he ever cared about anything. Through later flashbacks we learn that Boston hit all the right points to piss off Tsotsi enough to beat him badly. This is Tsotsi at his lowest, committing heinous crimes, beating up his friends, and caring about nothing.

Tsotsi literally runs from that scene and commits a carjacking, shooting a woman in the process. After driving away for a bit he realizes there is a baby in the back seat and completely freaks out. But rather than just leaving the child, he takes the boy home. He's inept as a parent but grows attached to the child. While the rest of the film could have been Hollywood trite, it's nothing like that. This is probably due to Presley Chweneyagae amazing portrayal of Tsotsi. As the character learns about the meaning of decency you see the progression and setbacks played out in his eyes.

There is some really interesting camera work, particularly in the first half hour, that would make Scorcese or Spike Lee proud. Unlike those directors, the dramatic scenes mostly have no background music and use simple shots. These are often intense standoffs as you stare at Chweneyagae's eyes and into Tsotsi's soul. At other times the Kwaito soundtrack really adds to the sense of place.

I really enjoyed Tsotsi and wish I had seen it sooner. Gavin Hood wrote and directed it and his next film Rendition comes out in November starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin and Peter Sarsgaard. I might be first in line.