It's almost unfortunate that this 2005 South African film was made after Fernando Meirelles' brutalizing 2003 "City of God" as the latter film really sets the cinematic standard for portraying harsh urban nihilism on screen. Instead of Rio's favelas, we now have the Soweto shantytowns as the geographic focal point. 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. A robbery-turned-stabbing in a subway triggers a lot of unwanted questions for Tsotsi about his past among his fellow gang members. He almost kills his best friend Boston before running away and finding a carjacking opportunity. Violence yet again erupts in this episode, but the surprise is that he finds a baby in the backseat of the car he stole. 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. Some scenes, especially toward the last half-hour including an unnecessary flashback, come across as particularly mawkish, even though the ending does generate genuine tension. 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. Terry Pheto is certainly a becalming presence as Miriam, though it is unclear to me whether the young woman has the welfare of Tsotsi or the baby as her priority. The other gang members are portrayed with acuity - Mothusi Magano as the cerebral Boston, Kenneth Nkosi as the befuddled follower Aap, and Zenzo Ngqobe as the aptly named Butcher.
The one aspect that deserves unequivocal praise is Lance Brewer's stunning cinematography which captures the burnished landscape of the shantytowns in vibrant detail. There are several extras with the 2006 DVD that are worth checking out, beginning with Hood's informative commentary and an intriguing 1998 short he made called "The Storekeeper". There are several deleted scenes included, but the most interesting are two variations on the final minutes of the film (Hood chose correctly in my opinion). A lively music video of the movie's propulsive opening song, "Mdlwembe" by Zola, is also included. It's necessary to use the English subtitle option since the characters are speaking a local dialect called Tsotsi-Taal.
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. A robbery-turned-stabbing in a subway triggers a lot of unwanted questions for Tsotsi about his past among his fellow gang members. He almost kills his best friend Boston before running away and finding a carjacking opportunity. Violence yet again erupts in this episode, but the surprise is that he finds a baby in the backseat of the car he stole. 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. Some scenes, especially toward the last half-hour including an unnecessary flashback, come across as particularly mawkish, even though the ending does generate genuine tension. 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. Terry Pheto is certainly a becalming presence as Miriam, though it is unclear to me whether the young woman has the welfare of Tsotsi or the baby as her priority. The other gang members are portrayed with acuity - Mothusi Magano as the cerebral Boston, Kenneth Nkosi as the befuddled follower Aap, and Zenzo Ngqobe as the aptly named Butcher.
The one aspect that deserves unequivocal praise is Lance Brewer's stunning cinematography which captures the burnished landscape of the shantytowns in vibrant detail. There are several extras with the 2006 DVD that are worth checking out, beginning with Hood's informative commentary and an intriguing 1998 short he made called "The Storekeeper". There are several deleted scenes included, but the most interesting are two variations on the final minutes of the film (Hood chose correctly in my opinion). A lively music video of the movie's propulsive opening song, "Mdlwembe" by Zola, is also included. It's necessary to use the English subtitle option since the characters are speaking a local dialect called Tsotsi-Taal.