ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

ONE OF THE most pleasing Oscar victories this year was the choice of ‘Tsotsi’ as Best Foreign Language Film. This impressive South African production won the Audience Award at last year’s Edinburgh Film Festival, and has gone from strength to strength as it has journeyed around the world.

Based on a novel by Athol Fugard, it offers an unflinching portrait of post-apartheid South Africa, focusing on the lawless shanty towns and lives that are bereft of hope.

It then looks beyond the despair to tell an arresting human story of one man’s road to salvation. ‘Tsotsi’ means thug, and it is also the nickname that has been applied to David (Presley Chweneyagae).

Orphaned by AIDS, he has been forced to raise himself, honing his survival instincts and growing indifferent to the hurt he causes and the anger he carries. During the theft of a car he shoots the vehicle’s owner.

It is only after driving away that he realises there is a young baby in the back seat. He doesn’t kill the child or abandon it. He bundles it up in a brown carrier bag and takes it home. Having the responsibility for another human reawakens his long dormant compassion and leads to the realisation that he cannot continue to live his life like this.

The power of the film lies in the way it subtly upends our view of David. Initially, he is the kind of dangerous delinquent we might walk a mile to avoid. Gradually, as we grow to understand his life he becomes a much more sympathetic and vulnerable figure.

We become so involved in his fate that we only hope the story avoids the tragic conclusion that has begun to seem inevitable. A polished tale of crime and redemption, ‘Tsotsi’ is a very worthy Oscar winner.

Selected nationwide release
Director: Gavin Hood
Stars: Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Mothusi Magano, Isreal Makoe, Benny Moshe
Screenplay: Gavin Hood
Certificate: 15
Running time: 94 mins
Country: South Africa/UK
Year: 2005

© Allan Hunter, 2006