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 to access audio and video on collective you need real player.Oscar-winner Gavin Hood on the streets of Soweto. In cinematic terms, the average westerner’s view on many of the world’s more impoverished areas remains a wide shot. It takes a certain determination from a filmmaker and his film – think Fernando Meirelles delving into Rio’s favelas in City Of God – to get inside and give us the extreme close-up. So it is with South African writer/director Gavin Hood and his gritty Oscar-winning film, Tsotsi.Set in a Soweto township, Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) - street slang for “thug” - is a vicious young gang hoodlum whose life is capsized when an attempted carjacking leaves him with his middle-class black victim’s vehicle – and her small, screaming baby, sat on the backseat. Unable to return the child for fear of capture, Tsotsi is forced to fend for the child himself. As Hood points out, “It’s a classic story of redemption, and that’s what makes it universal I guess. It happens to be shot in a crazy shantytown environment, but people have said it could be set in many places in the world – Rio, Glasgow, South Central LA.”  Based on a 50s novel by legendary South African writer Athol Fugard, Hood reset the book in present-day Johannesburg, allowing some pertinent contemporary critiques. Instead of losing his father through political dissidence against the former Apartheid regime, here Tsotsi has been orphaned through HIV and AIDS. “Our own new social nightmare,” says Hood grimly. A former lawyer with a British father, Hood grew up in South Africa but also lived in London for five years, enabling him to contrast his relatively privileged background with that of the poverty-stricken townships. He’s quick to repudiate the common image of “the miserable black people with a begging bowl, helpless and hopeless. That’s true in extremes,” he concurs, “but the majority of people are just living life, having fun…” as Tsotsi clearly shows.  The townships also provide much of Tsotsi’s cast, not least its impressive lead, Chweneyagae. “There are these fantastic community theatre groups that operate within the townships,” Hood relates. “From the time he was a young kid, Presley did plays at the local community theatre school. So, in a bizarre way, he’s from that world but he’s also an actor.” And for anyone who thinks that’s a contradiction? “Speak to Michael Caine – he didn’t exactly grow up wealthy and he’s a great actor,” Hood laughs. “So I think Presley is the new Michael Caine!”
Leigh Singer
Tsotsi, on selected release 17 March 06.
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Read members' comments related to this film.
comment by Vahva
Aug 7, 2006
We got this dvd out recently and really enjoyed it. It's a very simple story but filmed so beautifully with a touching performance from the lead. Although not quite as raw and violent as 'city of God' it has a similar sensibility. A universal story of growing up and redemption set in a city where the gap between rich and poor is huge. Moving, sometimes funny and beautifully filmed, well worth renting.
comment by TheGeekMom
Apr 20, 2006
Greetings and Aloha From Hawaii,This was one of the films featured in the Hawaii International Film Festival. Beautiful, Evocative, and Intense. Look for it like buried treasure, it is a gem and definitely worth seeing.
comment by fatladywrestler
Mar 21, 2006
Welcome Kenny from USA, never heard of this movie - is it released over the pond yet??? What are you up to today must be nearly lunch for you lucky geezer!!!!
comment by kennyUSA
Mar 21, 2006
THERE NEEDS TO BE MORE MOVIES LIKE THIS TO SHOW MAINSTREAM MEDIA THAT THE STUFF THAT IS GOING ON IN THE MIDDLE AND UPPER CLASS IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE LOWER CLASS OF PEOPLE MOST OF WHICH IS CULTURAL PEOPLE
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