Tsotsi

Gavin Hood, UK/South Africa, 2005, 94 minutes

Tsotsi lives in the slums of Johannesburg, where he runs a group of small-time thiefs. Since he ran away from home as a small boy his life has been a nightmare – he was raised by the streets and had to gain respect with his fists and ruthlessness. Human life had no value to him and he didn't care about anybody else but himself. But this all changes, when one day Tsotsi finds a baby in a stolen car. Confused, he takes it home and decides to give the baby something that he had never had himself - paternal love. The police and the baby's parents are after him, though and it's just a matter of time before he gets caught.

Tsotsi has often been compared to City of God – a brasilian hit about the sun-burned slums of Rio de Janeiro - because of the topic and soundtrack full of excellent South-African hip-hop. But, the brasilian film was most of all a fast-edited visual feast. Tsotsi is more mature and focuses more on the personality and the inner world of the main character. It pictures a boy, who becomes a man, not only physically but mentally, and becomes able to take responsibility for his own actions as well as for others. Maybe it was this personal approach that helped Tsotsi to win the Audience Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2005? See for yourself.

Review by Jan Naszewski
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2006