Tsotsi

Plot synopsis:
Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is a petty-crime gang leader. He and his friends Boston, Aap and Butcher (Mothusi Magano, Kenneth Nkosi, Zenzo Ngqobe) rob a older man on a crowded subway then Butcher stabs him quietly and they flee once the subway is empty. Boston is sick afterwards.The gang goes to the local bar for a drink and Tsotsi mocks Boston for getting sick. Boston asks Tsosti what his real name is and a antagonizes him about what happened to him that made him this way. Boston pushes Tsotsi too far and Tsotsi hits him, pushing him to the floor. He continues the beating on the floor, hitting him numerous times in the face and kicking him in the side. Tsotsi then walks out of the bar.Tsotsi walks through the rain and makes his way towards a upper class house where a car just pulled up to the gate. A woman, Pumla (Nambitha Mpumlwana) gets out and rings the bell and speaks to someone asking him to open the gate. Tsotsi runs up, draws his gun and points it at her. He gets in the car and she tries to stop him from leaving. As Tsotsi shifts from reverse to drive he's stopped for a moment and Pumla manages to get the car door open and tries to tell him to stop but Tsotsi shoots her and drives off.Suddenly he hears a soft crying: it's a baby. He swerves and hits a sign, almost running off the road. The car is smoking as Tsotsi runs around to the back door to look at the baby. He considers leaving on his own but finally, he puts the baby in a paper shopping bag and leaves the car.Tsotsi brings the baby to his small home. He wakes up the next morning and triess to change the baby but doesn't have anything to properly take care of it. He feeds the baby with some milk but is interrupted by his friends at the door. They make plans to meet later at the subway station.Tsotsi bumps into a handicapped man, Morris (Jerry Mofokeng) at the subway station before meeting his friends and he yells at him. Tsotsi just stares at him when Morris spits on his shoe. The man leaves and Tsotsi follows him all the way to a quiet spot. Tsotsi stops him and tells him to walk, that he is faking his leg injury. Morris insists that he is not faking and explains that he was hit by a falling beam while working in the mines. Tsotsi compares him to a dog whose back has been broken but still tries to crawl around without the use of its back legs. He asks him why he bothers to live. The man says he likes feeling the heat of the sun. Tsotsi leaves him.When Tsotsi returns home ants are all over baby and he realises he doesn't know how to take care of it. He takes the baby to Miriam (Terry Pheto)'s home, and forces her to breast-feed the baby. They start talking, and she asks what the baby's name is. Tsotsi tells her that the baby's name is David. She convinces him to leave the baby with her and that she will take care of him. Tsotsi before leaving reminds her that the baby is his.Tsotsi goes to see Boston at Soekie's (Thembi Nyandeni) house and explains that Boston should be at his house and that he will take care of Boston. Tsotsi tells a story about finding Boston in the streets and how he took care of him then. This convinces Soekie to let him come to Tsotsi's house.After settling Boston in, Tsotsi and his friends Aap and Butcher return to the baby's home to rob it. They hold John (Rapulana Seiphemo), the father, at gunpoint and tie him to a chair. Butcher insists on killing John but Tsotsi tells him they will later and stops him. His friends do not know Tsotsi's true intention of stealing items for the baby. While Aap is looking for alcohol in the kitchen instead of watching John, John pushes an alarm button on his keychain.Butcher, who had found a gun in the bedroom he was ransacking, races over and puts the gun to John's head. He tries to shoot him but the gun's safety was on. Before he can fire again Tsotsi shoots Butcher. Tsotsi and John share a look before Aap and Tsotsi flee the scene in John's car.They sell the car in a car yard and Tsotsi starts to walk away and realizes that Aap isn't coming. Aap asks him when it is his turn. Tsotsi doesn't understand. Aap explains that first he hurt Boston, now he killed Butcher and when is Tsotsi going to turn on him. Tsotsi gives him some of the money they got for the car and leaves him.Tsotsi returns to Miriam's house and she offers him food. She tells him she knows where he got the baby, that she read it in the news. Tsotsi freaks out, takes the baby and begins to leave. Miriam tells him he needs to return the baby and Tsotsi asks Miriam if he could still come over to her home depending on what he decides. Miriam says yes and Tsotsi leaves.Tsotsi brings the baby back home and wakes Boston up. He tells Boston that he is sorry. Boston wakes up the next morning to police pointing guns at him after Soekie tells the police where Tsotsi lives. Boston doesn't know anything about the baby or where Tsotsi went.Tsotsi is dressed nicely and waking in the subway station. As he walks past Morris he offers him money. He then comes to the baby's home and a police man notices him outside and calls for backup. Tsotsi pushes the intercom and tells John that he is going to leave the baby outside. The baby starts the cry and Tsotsi picks it up to quiet it as John comes outside.The police all pull up and point their guns at him. Tsotsi freezes and refuses to drop the baby. Pumla comes outside and tells him to give her baby back. John tells the officers to lower their weapons and they do so. He talks to Tsotsi as he slowly opens the gate and comes to him to get the baby. Tsotsi lets him take the baby from his arms and the police tell him to raise his hands above his head.

Tags: dramatic, murder, flashback

Review:
Hence the many comments such as "this film could be set in LA" (ie: it's almost as good as an American movie) As a result, most cinema from South Africa is often very limited in its artistic ambitions and storytelling usually takes second place to making sure South Africa "looks good" on the screen so that "people overseas" will see "our beautiful country" The Australians used to call this the cultural cringe and it also took them some time to find their voice.Tstosti is a wonderfully told piece of cinema set in the distinctive word of black Johannesburg criminals (I say black, because there is a very different world for white criminals)It works because underneath all the bells and whistles of great camera angles, phenomenal acting and- yes- its unique setting lies something much, much more important: A strong, strong story.
Whilst it shows the way of life in shanty towns and was, I know, filmed in authentic locations, I found myself wondering whether the coloring was just a bit rosy, but that is a very minor criticism.The director has coaxed a performance from his lead actor which is, I think, a landmark.
He is supported by a bevy of other characters which those familiar with South Africa will recognize all to easily.If you do not have a South African connection, see the movie as an insight into our way of life.
Each character is dramatically and very emotionally defined by the surroundings we see, where they once or currently live.Not only is Lance Gewer's cinematography from day to night, from barren openness of no man's land to the closed-in dense township simply gorgeous, he is particularly good at capturing the luster of dark skin tones swathed in colorful clothes.
Truly unforgettable.The only work in recent times to which this movie can be compared is City of God. There, too, the viewer is brought into a world of poverty and crime he probably never knew existed.
These characters live on the edge and their primary passion is survival.What makes Tsotsi, in the end, a finer film than City of God is that it offers a more complex sense of hope; it reminds us in an honest and unsentimental way that inside even the hardest cases there is a soul, which is never beyond redemption.
An South Africa/Great Britain co-production, Tsotsi, made history at the 2005 Edinburgh Film festival by becoming the first film in more than seven years to win both the Standard Life Audience Award for most popular film, and the Michael Powell Award for Best Film.
Previous wins were at the Los Angeles AFI Film Festival (joint winner with Canada's C.R.A.Z.Y), Toronto International Film Festival and Edinburgh.Ironically, Tsotsi did not get the main prize at the Cape Town World Cinema Festival in November 2005 although it clinched the Critics Jury Award for Best South African Film, and lead actor Presley Chweneyagae winning the Best Actor award.On 15 November Tsotsi was nominated for the European Film Academy Non-European Film 2005 - Prix Screen International.Based on the only novel written by Athol Fugard, the film brilliantly depicts the story of a young boy orphaned at the age of nine and forced to fight his way to adulthood alone in the townships of Johannesburg.
Tsotsi has been submitted as South Africa's official entry in the foreign film category for the 2006 Academy Awards en let's hope we will finally be able to celebrate in 2006..
And he probably doesn't even have a formal education.Congratulations to Gavin Hood, the Polish producers and above all to Lance Gewers, who I think should win Camerimage.There was a question at the press conference, where one of the press seemed almost disgusted that Gewers did the unfashionable and instead of filming from the hand like in "City of God" he decided for the static approach.
A Truly Moving Picture "explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life." Heartland gave that award to this film.Tsotsi is a leader of an informal black criminal gang in South Africa.
And instead of the unrelenting visceral intensity of the Brazilian film, director-writer Gavin Hood presents a story that begins with a fearsome veracity but unfortunately settles for a more conventional sense of plot structure and character development.Based on a 1960 novel by Athol Fugard, the story concerns the title character, a teenage ruffian who heads up a gang of four in post-apartheid South Africa.
From that point, the baby becomes a catalyst for Tsotsi's humanistic character transformation, including an initially tense relationship with Miriam, a young widow and mother whom he seeks out to feed the baby.For a film that starts out with such unblinking grittiness, it is surprising and a bit sad to see it evolve into an increasingly sentimental journey even with the jagged edge of violence present throughout.
In his film debut, Presley Chweneyagae is impressive as Tsotsi, even when the script calls for his character to go through some awfully quick changes in short order.
The way people acted looked so real for me, than sometimes I asked myself "why in a movie a baby eats ants?", and then I just thought that everyday thousands of kids die because of malnutrition, poverty...
At the beginning I feared that the film was too MTV like, with the hip music and the camera effect when Tsotsi is running away but as it got into it I was relieved to see that the director had taken quite a subtle approach to the story and allowed the story line to speak for itself.
For six days, the baby changes his behavior, arousing and developing the sense of empathy and humanity in the cold blood killer."Tsotsi" is a touching, realistic and powerful story of redemption without being corny.
Gritting, full of vitality, and reinforcing the paradox in South Africa is Gavin Hood's fine film, based on a short story by Fugard, seen as "the greatest humanist playwright" by many.I saw the film in a local cinema, and was amazed at how the film "spoke" to the (racially, very mixed) audience, drawing out gasps, laughs and moans in almost equal proportion.Don't be misled by the puerile comments made by noel-74: I would agree that it does appear that he has not seen the film.The film is rhythmic and vibrant, uncompromising in its treatment of gangster behaviour: it is a film that exposes and doesn't judge: see it, be angry, be despairing, be uplifted.
I also watched other movies which have been nominated for this years (2006) Oscar in Foreign Film category, I liked Tsotsi than the rest.
After watching this film was not surprised to read how well received this film has been on the festival circuit.The attention to the subtleties of the actors, the roaring soundtrack, and the raw and uncompromising story will leave you with thoughts on the film for days on end.With amazing footage shot in the streets the story is based on this is a true insight into the world of communities in deprived South Africa.With subtitles this film has allowed the actors (some coming from the very communities the film is based in) the story has a true authenticity which makes the story and the character in it stick with you.
TSOTSI (2005) Set in South Africa, against a background of inequality and HIV, Tsotsi (played by Presley Chweneyagae), an unemotional small-time gang leader, develops an understanding of, and tries to grasp, family, belonging and caring for others.
The film is filled with muted colours, swelling to golden tones as Tsotsi discovers his emotions.The story's secondary theme is the understated but powerful role of women, typified by Terry Pheto as Miriam.
She cares and nurtures, and makes beauty out of very little, including mobiles from broken glass; she quietly challenges the male-generated violence of the film.By the end of the film the audience is moved by, and involved in, the narrative, and our awareness of the complexity of South African society is extended.
suddenly it's all dandy dory because you've seen the error of your ways?However, the other good thing about the movie is that, originally, Tsotsi lived with a abusive drunk father, his victimised mother and a dog.
It's disturbing at worst but uplifting at the same time.This movie clearly portrayed for me at least, that AIDS-phobia does in fact affect us ALL; not only the characters in the plot but even those who unsuspectingly bought tickets to watch "Tsotsi".Thankfully, I got over my phobia 20 years ago, would never treat an HIV/AIDS-infected person with indignity nor harm the hair on an innocent animal.
Based upon Athol Fugard's 1961 novel of the same name, the film focuses not on the sixties but on contemporary South Africa, a society twelve years removed from apartheid but still facing crime, poverty, AIDS, and a huge gap between rich and poor.
Rather he uses muted sepia tones and a conventional style to paint the bleak atmosphere of the slums and enter the mind of its inhabitants.Supported by the energy and rhythm of South African Township music called Kwaito, Tsotsi immediately plunges us into a world of shantytowns, poverty, and cold-blooded crime.
In one incident, the gang sticks an ice pick into the heart of a wealthy man on a Johannesburg subway for no reason other than that he was counting his money in public.When Boston vomits after the killing and questions Tsotsi about his understanding of the word decency and asks about his real name, the stone-faced hoodlum beats him brutally but the questions linger in the back of his mind.
He remembers when his mother (Sindi Shambule) was dying of AIDS and his father (Israel Makoe) in a fit of rage kicked his barking dog, breaking its back as Tsotsi, (played in flashbacks by Benny Moshe) ran away to live in a cluster of drainpipes with abandoned children.Presley Chweneyagae delivers a luminous performance in his first role and his gradual redemption, shown mostly by gesture and facial expression, is totally convincing.
"Tsotsi" gives audiences a rare look into the poverty of life in a township in South Africa and it also shows that within even the seemingly worst of us, there can be a spark of goodness.
And while this is perhaps not the most realistic genre you will ever see, it still is a very likable and involving one to watch.This South African Oscar winning movie manages to become a good genre movie, despite the fact that South Africa doesn't have a strong history in making films (at least not at the time).
I wasn't sure if i would enjoy the film however i really enjoyed watching it.Before watching it,i had never actually heard of the film.I think the acting was great and directed fantastically by Gavin Hood.There are a lot of themes shown in the film such as violence,love and family.
The film showed me more what South African townships are like and the poverty many people are in.
There wasn't as much speech in the film as i thought there would be,but it didn't matter because the characters,especially Tsotsi showed how they were feeling through the facial expressions.I would recommend this film because it is moving and because of the brilliant plot.
The acting is uniformly good and the Tsotsi we see at the start of the film, a tough as nails criminal, evolves wonderfully into a lost child looking for a mothers love.
This film follows Tsotsi, a South African thug who after a bad night shoots a woman in the stomach and steals her car.
What I really liked about this movie is that in the beginning,Tsotsi was a rough rogue who could care less about others feelings.Then through life changing events involving his kidnapping of a baby, and the love he develops for it, he changes from a brutal animal into a soft hearted person ........
How many kids did this character see die in the streets each day- why the hell should he care about this one?At the end of the day this movie makes no sense because it's all about protecting an innocent life with the protector being one of the least innocent available-sound like a sexy plot if there is a motivation that is believable.
This character is portrayed very simply, as almost something of a by-product of the bad that comes out of the slums of South African cities- but the bad that the filmmaker wants us to understand has more dimension than meets the eye.This film is the kind, for me, where there are some individual scenes sprinkled in the good, decently done scenes, as well as a couple that I just didn't buy at all in the framework of the drama.
It's described as a humanistic film, so I will only offer here a small comment on the tools used in the effort to humanize us.It's about a young thug eking out a life of violence in the South African jungle, about a world where life means nothing.
South African film 'Tsotsi' presents the stark reality of shanty towns where youngsters resort to violent crimes as the only desirable way of moving forward in life.
For directing Tsotsi, South African director Gavin Hood chose the only novel written by veteran author Athol Fugard which portrays how there are moments in life when even an extremely violent person can experience feelings of genuine love..
Tsotsi, a South African film following several days in the life of a gang leader, is an excellent example of world film.
While containing some elements of regional cinema, Tsotsi is different by offering elements that speak to it's geophysical location, such as its commitment to using the original language and actors of the area.The story is simple enough, but it is the introspection of the main character, Tsotsi, that occurs that makes this film so great.
His pain and struggles are easily identifiable and relate-able as an audience member and make for a story that doesn't just focus on a series of events, but rather, larger problems that can cause permanent change in the lives of people.Overall, a good film that is easy and fun to watch while also containing enormous amounts of character depth and development..
Hood takes time to lay back-story gradually, building David's character through the film, so that by the final act we are completely with him.
The whole final act is masterful, so emotional, beautifully played, and with a very final shot that is haunting and iconic; a similar feeling is experienced to that which is felt at the end of "Full Metal Jacket", although perhaps a little more oddly positive."Tsotsi" does not have the surprise element Hood's next film would have, and in a way you can say it is quite a predictable story, but it is otherwise so sincere, so heartfelt, and so moving, that this complaint holds little sway.
So begins his path to redemption.It seems like the contrast of Tsotsi's gritty lifestyle with the story of his having to raise the baby loosely mirrors South Africa's recent history.
This film is pressing on a dark subject with all the killing and violence but the nice music by Zola helps to cheer up the whole thing.The basic plot is Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader steals a car and has a surprise in the back seat.this film setting the townships of Johannesburg has a beautiful back drop with the big contrast between the townships and the suburbs.some of the themes of this film are things like chance, family, friends and poverty.
The director (Gavin Hood) gave all characters meaning in the film, like for butcher a hard cold wannabe gangster believes in "act now, think later" LOL :)is the way to live, whilst we have Aap a lovable big oaf, who I fink the only words he says is "S,good".
After watching it, i was emotional and it told me a lot about the south African poverty problem they have.The storyline of the film is a great way to let people understand the troubles they have in other countries compared to the united kingdom.
By the end Tsotsi has changed into a very decent person and he can see what he has done wrong throughout his life and he faces up to it all by finally becoming a man.The storyline was really gripping and was very interesting and Gavin Hood did a really good job with the film.
Gavin Hood's film 'Tsotsi' tells the story of a young South African thug humanised after he steals a baby.
this movie presented its story in a very strong way.Tsotsi is a 19 year old African male and is the leader of his own small gang.
I am south African and feel so proud about tsotsi.I is locally produced with an all south African cast and director.That being said the movie is not outstanding, sure an academy award nomination was worthy but a win!the story is packed with clichés that will make you roll you eyes till they hurt.But kudos to south Africa for bringing a picture that can stand against other masterpieces in the world 'cough"paradise now".The acting is world class Presley the lead did a great job and the other south African cast was good as well except for Zola"a gangster playing a gangster what a stretch ".enough venting the story is about a hard hearted gangster who after hijacking a car fins a baby in the back seat.he falls in love with the baby and later finds a young widow whose husband was killed by thugs to care for him.in the process he learns about himself and other life lessons.
And it appears that Fugard was happy with Hood's film.The story of the film Tsotsi revolves around a car-jacking by a black South African thug to steal an up-market sedan from a rich back lady driving it.