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"This Posse Could
Make Eminem Scream Like
A Baby" |
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Directed by Gavin Hood -
Written by Gavin Hood,
Athol Fugard
Starring Presley
Chwenegeyae, Terry Pheto,
Mothusi Magano, Kenneth
Nkosi
Distributed by Miramax -
2006 - 94mins - Rated R |
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In this world...redemption comes just once. |
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In a shantytown of
Soweto Township on the edges of Johannesburg, South Africa, Tsotsi
(Presley Chweneyagae) lives and breathes by the fear he instills in
others. Tsotsi, literally translated meaning "thug" in his South
African ghetto dialect, is a 19-year-old who was orphaned at an early
age. He has repressed memories of this painful childhood to the point
that he cannot remember even his own birth name...he is, by all
accounts, a thug with no regard for human life.
"Tsotsi," the film, cries out with passionate regard for human life in
this emotionally raw, compelling story of hope, redemption, respect
and the search for humanity when all of life is utterly inhumane.
Writer/director Gavin Hood's "Tsotsi" is based upon a novel by
award-winning writer Athol Fugard. Hood has changed Fugard's 50's
setting and placed "Tsotsi" in contemporary South Africa, revealing an
even more powerful and politically revealing portrait of the
heartbreakingly painful realities of life in modern day South Africa.
As played by Chweneyagae, Tsotsi has grown into a young man who
practically screams out his lifetime of social and emotional neglect.
Chweneyagae, a newcomer to feature films, is mesmerizing from his
first moments onscreen and hypnotic even with sharing the screen with
a young infant.
Tsotsi leads a young group of seemingly wannabe gangsters who feed his
rage. There is Boston (Mothusi Mogano), an intellectual whose
alcohol-driven failings can't hide his essential decency despite his
inability to ever sit for the teaching license exam for which he
qualifies. There's the ever loyal Aap (Kenneth Nkosi), whose longtime
companionship with Tsotsi is done as much out of fear as anything.
Finally, there is Butcher (Zenzo Ngqobe), a young man who most mirrors
Tsotsi with his unquenchable thirst for violence. Together, these
young men spend their days stealing, harassing, assault and, yes, even
killing to satisfy their impulses and their seemingly beyond control
emotional needs.
We are introduced to these young men as they find an easy mark in a
public train station in Johannesburg. They follow this elderly man
onto the train and, even surrounded by a crowded train car, are able
to rob and tragically assault the man. It is quick...it is without
histrionics...it is ever so brief. It is, however, deeply and
painfully revealing.
"Tsotsi" has been compared to Fernando Meirelles' "City of God," a
critically praised portrayal of street life in Brazil that carries
many similar themes. The film, in reality, often plays like a cross
between that film, last year's remarkable "Hotel Rwanda" and, oddly
enough, the even more remarkable "Shawshank Redemption."
After these young men so brazenly attack the elderly man on the train,
they are gathered a local shebeen (illegal liquor bar). Boston, whose
violent inner reaction to the vicious assault has led to harassment by
his "posse," is harassing Tsotsi himself with questions about decency,
humanity, his past and, even more basically, demanding to know his
real name. As the questions become more persistent and intense, you
can feel the rage and despair boiling up in Tsotsi, who clearly has no
concept of how to deal with such feelings. In a violent rage, Tsotsi
viciously beats Boston and flees to the hills outside South Africa in
a pouring rain.
It is here where the story of "Tsotsi" shifts focus. The young man
sees yet another easy mark. He eyes a young, middle-class woman
struggling to enter her gated home due to a faulty remote control
opener. She steps out of the car to call her husband on the intercom.
While out, Tsotsi draws his weapon and begins stealing her car. She
fights him viciously and, again, Tsotsi shoots her without hesitation
not realizing the purpose for her fevered resistance.
The "purpose," however, reveals itself only a few miles down the road
as Tsotsi hears the gentle cries of a 3-month-old infant in the back
seat. He instantly wrecks the car, tries to strip it and tries, in
vain, to abandon the infant in the car. He simply cannot do it.
Suddenly, he is able to remember his own abandonment. He simply cannot
abandon this young child, perhaps the first human being who Tsotsi
cannot question has never wronged him.
Hood's script does not sugarcoat Tsotsi. It does not attempt to
instantly remake him into a deeply compassionate human being or even
one remotely versed in the act of parenting. His initial interactions
with the young infant are frightening in their potential for harm to
the child. Even when he is trying desperately to make the right choice
for this young child, Tsotsi inevitably makes the wrong choice. One
scene, in particular, will be disturbing to the viewer as the baby is
nearly irreparably harmed by Tsotsi's own ignorance.
Yet, all of these scenes feel deeply authentic. When one begins a
healing journey, any healing journey, it is not an overnight change or
an instantly manifested healing. A child who is physically or sexually
abused, for example, doesn't simply learn overnight how to
communicate, be intimate, experience healthy relationships or, even
more simply, love without hurting or being hurt. It is a process, a
journey of mistakes and mishaps. Tsotsi's journey is a journey of
remembering his own childhood devastation and, slowly, realizing its
impact on the decisions he has made in his life.
Realizing that he cannot adequately even feed the child, he eyes
Miriam (Terry Pheto)at a well. She is carrying her own young infant.
He follows her and, at gunpoint, forces her to nurse this young infant
under his care. Over time, it is this practically unspoken
relationship that will open Tsotsi's eyes to his own failings and his
own responsibilities and accountability.
"Tsotsi" is, towards the end, a film of little moments that connect in
grand ways. With his "posse", Tsotsi returns to the home where he
stole the car and, unknowingly, the child. Masked behind the bravado
of a simple robbery, Tsotsi merely wants to steal the baby's things.
When the simple robbery becomes one of violence, Tsotsi stops Butcher
from killing the man he knows is the baby's father. It is a scene both
reveals his growing humanity and the violent impulse he still cannot
control.
There's no sugarcoated ending in "Tsotsi." The ending is one of
sadness, resignation and glimpses of hope. Hood's script doesn't
forget the ethics of being human. Tsotsi, the young man, has been
transformed by the act of giving and receiving unconditional love, but
he is a young man whose actions will require consequences. Hood's
ability to direct these scenes in such a way to reveal the
transformation into humanity along with the inevitable consequences to
follow is filmmaking at its absolute finest.
In a just world, Chweneyagae would have been a nominee for Best Actor
for his performance as Tsotsi. It, most certainly, is among the finest
performances of 2005. Cheweneyagae's Tsotsi is a young man of rage and
fear and pain and mesmerizing beauty. Quite simply, it is a
magnificent performance.
Yet, every performance here is stellar and rings of truth, most
notably the quiet and dignified performance of Pheto as the widowed
mother along with the performances of Tsotsi's posse. Hood wisely
utilizes South African kwaito music (hip-hop) in balancing the often
intense, desperate tone with an undertone of energy and hope. The
film, actually shot in Soweto Township and Johannesburg, features
camera work that is gritty and revealing of the truth of life in South
Africa. We see the shantytowns and steel barrels in which people often
live. They are designed sets, yes, yet they are also everyday life for
many South Africans.
"Tsotsi" captured the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It was
released in time to qualify for the Academy Awards, but is just now
going into a slightly wider release. It is one of only a handful of
films where I have, quite literally, forgotten that it is a foreign
film. I found myself completely surrendered to the characters and the
actions onscreen that language barriers have became irrelevant.
So often, film-makers get it wrong when creating films centering
around violence. They make the films about the violence itself. Thus,
these films often become nothing more than stylized reproductions of
vicious acts. Gavin Hood's "Tsotsi," however, transcends this style of
film-making and ends up becoming the ultimate thriller. "Tsotsi" is a
film that looks graphically behind the eyes of violence and ultimately
discovers the wounded heart of humanity.
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© Written by Richard Propes -
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