Tsotsi (2005)

Sat on the recorder for almost a year, we finally got around to watching Tsotsi this week, the 2005 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film. It's a small film set in a South African slum, following the lead character, Tsotsi (which translates as 'thug') as he works his way through a crisis in his life that sees him beating up one of his friends, stabbing a man for money, and ultimately shooting a woman to steal her car - not realising her baby is on the back seat. 

Finding the baby acts as a catalyst for Tsotsi to reassess his life of crime, but not in a navel-gaving kind of way, and much of the growth is non-verbal. In fact, Tsotsi is a hard character to like, and a flashback showing how his father traumatised him as a youth before he ran away and brought himself up, doesn't necessarily excuse his later actions. Presley Chweneyagae deserves credit then for making Tsotsi an interesting character, and portraying much behind the eyes that shows you he wants to change, if circumstances would let him. 

The movie contrasts Tsotsi's shanty-town existence with the baby's parents' life behind a security gate in suburban Johannesburg, and the characters of the parents are particularly intriguing as they seem curiously willing to forgive Tsotsi his crimes. This was a really good film that was thought-provoking and entertaining without being patronising or sensational.