Tsotsi

Gavin Hood, the South African director of 2007’s Rendition, directed the 2005 South African film Tsotsi, a poignant and powerful tale of redemption. Hood will be directing the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, which is to be released in 2009. Born in Johannesburg, he got his start working on various pieces for the South African Department of Health. Hood’s intimate knowledge of South Africa, the culture, and the people help make Tsotsi such a powerful film with such rich texture and interesting plot components.

Tsotsi won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for the same category. Hood was nominated for the Screen International Award at the European Film Awards for his work in the movie. Along with that, Hood’s film was nominated for two BAFTA awards and several film festival awards. Lead actor Presley Chweneyagae picked up an Outstanding Performance Award from the Black Movie Awards for his work in the film.

Chweneyagae stars as Tsotsi, which is translated to mean “thug.” His real name is David. Tsotsi is the leader of a gang of small-time thugs in a Soweto slum. Soweto is an urban area in the Johannesburg, South Africa, and consists of several grouped townships. The film introduces us to Tsotsi’s way of life in the ghetto, as his gang of thugs goes about business as usual and robs people. Tsotsi’s gang includes Boston (Mothusi Magano), Die Aap (Kenneth Nkosi), and the ruthless killer Butcher (Zenzo Ngqobe). As Tsotsi commits a car-jacking on one fateful night, he discovers a baby in the backseat and his life begins to undertake a tremendous transformation that leads him away from the gangs and towards some form of ultimate redemption. Tsotsi’s way of dealing with the changing tides of his life is examined in Hood’s film.

Tsotsi was based on the novel of the same name by South African playwright and actor Athol Fugard. Fugard’s novel was from 1989 and was the only novel he ever wrote. The book represents, like the film, the internal psychological dialogue within the character of Tsotsi as he awakens to a new way of life. As revealed in the film, Tsotsi has virtually only known one way to live. Rejected by his family at an early age and left in the slums as they died from AIDs, he has continually had to fend for himself and only knows survival. Leading a small gang has been his lifeblood for years and his relationship with Die Aap further explores Tsotsi’s claim to the ghetto and to the streets.

Chweneyagae as Tsotsi is a revelation. Here we have a character that grew up on the streets of Johannesburg’s shantytowns and only knows abandoned drainpipes for a home. He struggles with issues of memory, too, having lost most of it as the result of psychologically blocking it out with the hardness of the streets. Chweneyagae’s face is hard at the beginning of the picture, but there is something about him that leaves him just outside of complete redemption. The character becomes a bad man moving towards a better way, not the typical other way around. This may seem like a strange turn of events for those used to traditional hero vs. villain dichotomies, but it really is a rich fabric woven with care from Gavin Hood and Chweneyagae’s portrayal.

Tsotsi is a film of deep expressive power. The soundtrack is driven by Kwaito music, which pulsates throughout the film. Kwaito is the music of South Africa, a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg and was based on house music beats. The music is typically done at a slower pace with lots of samples and vocals that are chanted rather than sung. Musical artists like Zola, whose music is used heavily in Tsotsi, incorporate more hip-hop into Kwaito than many other performers. Zola was born in the Soweto Township, making his music idyllic for the film. Having grown up in one of the roughest ghettos in the region, his music speaks for the character of Tsotsi immensely and provides a great linkage between the sound and the sights of the film.

Hood’s Tsotsi expresses so many things well. The loneliness of the character of Tsotsi is expressed through his actions, as he heads off on his own away from his gang after a violent “discussion” about decency. The despair of the character, as well as the problems with memory, is explored as clarity comes to him. And as Tsotsi has a bizarre but revealing confrontation with a man in a wheelchair, we learn more about Tsotsi’s values and his will to live or will to die. We learn of why he exists, somewhat, and why he asks the questions he asks. Through minimal dialogue, Chweneyagae shows us so much of Tsotsi’s soul. It’s a wonderful performance in a wonderful film.

Tsotsi is a great film. There are scenes that are hard to watch and other scenes that ring with a sort of poignant humour. As we watch Tsotsi reach out to the world as though a newborn child, possibly existing with trueness to himself for the first time, we are able to learn more about ourselves. We learn about decency, finally, and we learn about life.

Trailer: