By Jeff Hartke, February 24, 2006

Its easy to see why South Africa's Tsotsi (TSOTS) has become a front runner to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture. Those adventurous enough to see it will be rewarded with a mature film that neither flinches from nor glorifies the poverty of a nation in transition. In addition to an interesting story, there are surprisingly strong, mature performances from its unknown cast.


Tsotsi - which means "thug" in the local language, a creole of English, Afrikaans and Xhosa - is also the name by which the leading character goes by. It's not quite correct, since he isn't really a thug so much as a crime boss in the making. Played by newcomer Presley Chweneyagae, Tsotsi is the undisputed leader of a small gang of teenage criminals who share a need for status, security and something to do.

After being mocked by an older thug for his inability to drive, Tsotsi is determined to steal a car and bring it back to the slum to prove him wrong. Lying in wait outside the home of a rich couple, he hijacks a woman's Mercedes, shooting her in the process. What he doesn't realize is that her infant child is in the back seat. But when he does, he inexplicably decides to take him back to his home in the slums.


This is a bad idea, as you can well imagine. Not only are the well-connected parents doing everything possible to ensure his return, Tsotsi has no idea how to care for an infant. Desperate, he seeks help from a young mother, played by Terry Pheto as a full breasted Mother Africa, but it is a temporary situation at best. The police are relentlessly closing in, his gang is falling apart, and he is unable to be a proper parent to the child. But he refuses to surrender the boy.

What exactly motivates him to pursue such a doomed course of action? Tsotsi is a difficult, sullen, unlikable young man, vibrating with potential violence. His intelligence and force of personality only serve to make him more dangerous. Yet despite Tsotsi's frequently despicable actions, Chweneyagae manages to convey a deep humanity, and the possibility of a bright redemption. What is most impressive is that he does so with very little dialogue, expressing a complex character primarily through look and gesture.

Whether or not that redemption will come about, and what form it may take, is for the film to say. When the climax does come, don't look for any "Hollywood" endings. Director Gavin Hood has too much respect for his audience and his subject matter to give anyone an easy way out.

Tsotsi opens in limited release on February 24.