Tsotsi (2005)
Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Mothusi Magano, Israel Makoe, Percy Matsemela

Tsotsi was adapted from the novel of the same name by well-known South African playwright, Athol Fugard. This English subtitled movie won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year (South Africa).

Tsotsi is an excellent movie about sin and redemption. Tsotsi wanders through the streets with his friends looking for trouble and finding it wherever they go. At the beginning of the movie, we see Tsotsi and his gang (the word Tsotsi means “thug” in the urban slang of Johannesburg, South Africa) shooting dice, one member, although a decent crapshooter, cannot count; therefore he seldom wins at the game. Maybe this is a subtle hint about the way the boys live, life is a crapshoot and you have to be smart enough to know how to make every minute count properly and effectively; or you lose at the biggest game of all. The boys go from shooting dice to murder when they rob and kill a man and after watching him make a purchase in the local marketplace. Later one of the boys, Boston, (Mothusi Mangano) challenges Tsotsi by telling him they went too far. He asks if he [Tsotsi] has every loved anyone or anything. Tsotsi retaliates by savagely beating his friend, and angrily walking out. As he walks, he seems to be looking for a reason to harm anyone who gets in his way, when that does not happen, he simply highjacks a woman’s car, then coldly shoots her, as she tries to stop him.

Tsotsi unknowingly drives away with an infant in the backseat of the car. When the baby starts to make noise, he stops the car and looks at the infant . Not quite sure what to do, he starts to walk away, leaving the car door open and the child crying. However, something will not let him do that, he returns to the car, puts the infant in a large shopping bag and returns to his shanty with the child. Tsotsi does not realize it, but he has made a life changing decision. He becomes the infant’s caretaker. This is a different side of Tsotsi. We are shown bits and pieces of his life as a child through short, quickly moving flashbacks. You find that his mother was dying when he ran away from his brutal father at an early age. You may later find yourself wondering if the father really was brutal and the reasons for his actions.

Tsotsi worries because the infant becomes hungry and he has nothing to feed him. When he sees a young mother (Terry Pheto) with her own baby, an idea forms and he follows her. He threatens her at gunpoint for her mother milk. The mother breast-feeds the child Tsotsi has shoved in her arms; he aims the gun her while he watches. He asks her name, she tells him that it is Miriam. Tsotsi listens to Miriam as she talks and croons to a child she does not know, and whom she is forced at gunpoint, to feed in a mother’s most intimate way. He finds himself curious about the woman and as he watches her and asks questions there is a shyness about him, his face softens, the hard shell vanishes and in its place there is compassion. However, the shell returns the minute he walks out of the door. He immediately accosts a harmless old man in a wheelchair. While attacking the man, Tsotsi finds himself at an uncertain crossroad in his life.

Young actor Presley Chweneyagae is new to film, Tostsi is his first big screen effort, and he rises to the challenge.

Viewers should be warned that this movie is violent and the dialogue is peppered heavily with profanity. The “F” word is used so many times it may beat the record of Al Pacino’s Scarface character.

Rated R

-Vanette Ryanes

Vanette Ryanes is a true movie maven. She has been an avid movie fan for more than 35 years and has a video library of 200 plus movies. She has a vast knowledge of classic black and white, noir and vintage color movies. If you have questions about movies contact Vanette, (Vannie to her friends) for answers, advice and recommendations.