Tsotsi is the well-deserved winner of the 2006 Foreign Film Oscar. Its a crime story set in a shanty town on the outskirts of Johannesburg and is similar to City of God but (in my opinion) better for showing us a world of real poverty and crime. Based on a novel, Tsotsi is a tale of one individual, a petty thug, who finds 'decency' through an unintended child-napping. The film shows his transition from a criminal without a soul to a person who begins to care for humanity. We get helpful flashbacks which give insight into the childhood scars that shaped his life and turned him into such a vile being. And it is another child without a mothers love that brings hope and redemption.
The only real criticism of Tsotsi would be that the change in his nature over a 3-4 day period is too extreme to be plausible, but I thought the transition was intelligently scripted. It could also be argued that it is too stylized and could have been more neorealistic in approach. It is stylized but the style worked really for me. In fact, the single thing that I liked most about the film was the cinematography. The director has an amazing visual sense. The mise en scene is perfect and he handles night scenes, which are predominant in the film, really well. I could really see him making a neo-noir or Gothic horror and employing his visual talent to brilliant effect. 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. Even his voice changes over the 90 minute duration. I thought the violence was very tastefully handled as well. I'll be keeping an eye out for the director Gavin Hood's next film.
The only real criticism of Tsotsi would be that the change in his nature over a 3-4 day period is too extreme to be plausible, but I thought the transition was intelligently scripted. It could also be argued that it is too stylized and could have been more neorealistic in approach. It is stylized but the style worked really for me. In fact, the single thing that I liked most about the film was the cinematography. The director has an amazing visual sense. The mise en scene is perfect and he handles night scenes, which are predominant in the film, really well. I could really see him making a neo-noir or Gothic horror and employing his visual talent to brilliant effect. 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. Even his voice changes over the 90 minute duration. I thought the violence was very tastefully handled as well. I'll be keeping an eye out for the director Gavin Hood's next film.