Tsotsi

SINOPSIS

Winner of the Oscar for best foreign language film, this is the story of a violent and disaffected young South African nicknamed Tsotsi, which means "thug" in township patois. His gang stab a middle-aged man on a train and later Tsotsi viciously turns on one of his own men, but the drama pivots on his theft of a car and the discovery of a baby on the back seat. Tsotsi takes the infant home and its presence begins to have a humanising effect on the hitherto cold-blooded sociopath. In the title role, Presley Chweneyagae delivers a wonderfully underplayed performance, his face handsome, yet chillingly emotionless, his eyes hinting at the inner turmoil. Director Gavin Hood's intrinsically African film was shot on location in Johannesburg and vibrates with the rhythms of township life, the Isicamtho dialect and a contemporary, urban, Kwaito music soundtrack. The story is based on Athol Fugard's 1980 novel, which was set in the 1950s, but Hood's updating for these post-apartheid times seems flawless.