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Tsotsi By Harry Forbes Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Tsotsi" (Miramax) -- South African jargon for a black urban criminal -- is the second film to open in February with the theme of a carjacking involving a baby in the back seat. But that's where the similarities end between the well-intentioned but flawed "Freedomland" and this Oscar nominee (for Best Foreign Language Film). The Johannesburg underworld milieu is, at first, harsh and repellent. And from the early scenes where the vicious hoodlums, 19-year-old Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) and his gang -- Boston (Mothusi Magano), Butcher (Zenzo Ngqobe) and Aap (Kenneth Nkosi) -- target a prosperous man on the subway, surround him on a crowded train, stab him to death and make off with his cash, you may feel the film will be too hard to take. Matters are scarcely better when shortly afterward in a bar, Boston chides Tsotsi for his callousness and lack of decency, and Tsotsi brutally beats him. But when we next see Tsotsi menacing a wheelchair-bound panhandler whom, we're sure, will meet some grisly fate, the man's piteous condition and indomitable spirit in the face of adversity breaks through Tsotsi's heartlessness, and he leaves the man alone. Still unreformed, though, Tsotsi stakes out an affluent gated house, and confronts a woman returning home (Nambitha Mpumlwana), shoots her when she tries to stop him from stealing her car, and drives off. Only later does he discover there's a baby in the back seat. Against all probability, he bonds with the infant and decides to secretly care for it. We get a glimpse into Tsotsi's past and learn that he had a rough upbringing with a violent father who kept him from his gravely ill but loving mother, forcing the young David (his real name) to flee home, and live with other homeless children in a desolate area with large industrial pipes as their only shelter. Rarely have the privations of childhood leading to crime been so persuasively dramatized. Tsotsi can barely take care of the child in the squalid shantytown where he lives, so in desperation, he forces an attractive young widow, Miriam (Terry Pheto), to breastfeed the infant, the first step in a transformation that will lead to a redemptive ending that doesn't feel simply tacked on like so many films that wallow in violence or sex. The film works as well as it does because of the superbly nuanced performances. Chweneyagae accomplishes the impossible in etching a hateful character whom we ultimately feel is deserving of great compassion. And he also succeeds in making his rather abrupt about face utterly believable. Pheto is outstanding, exuding, as she does, warm understanding for the thug who has invaded her home. The dreary setting (brown tones predominate), the sordid action and the periodic acts of violence will not be to every taste, but if you stick with it, writer-director Gavin Hood's adaptation of Athol Fugard's 1980 novel ultimately becomes an incredibly moving experience and the finale -- with its haunting underscoring -- is sure to bring a lump to the throat. "Tsotsi" has deservedly won a slew of international film awards, and has been dubbed by author-playwright Fugard as "far and away the best film that has been made" of any of his works. Subtitles. The film contains pervasive rough and occasional crude language, some profanity, two violent killings, a shooting, brief breastfeeding images, and gambling. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. - - - Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. END Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed. CNS · 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017 · 202.541.3250 |
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