Tsotsi - A tale of two cities
‘Decency. Do you know the word?’
I’ve spent the last hour trying to write a review or some thoughts on this one and every sentence I have started I’ve had to delete. Even writing this has taken me longer than it should as I’ve started down one path, deleted and started all over again. Which, come to think of it is the central theme (or one of them) at the heart of this movie.
‘Tsotsi’ - meaning ‘Thug’- is a young man living in Soweto in such a way that violence is all he has ever known. The movie follows 6 days in his life, beginning with a night of murder and ending ultimately in redemption.
It is a brave portrayal of two cities living cheek by jowl, and one that most tourist boards would despise. The blackened night time streets of modern Johannesburg come across as oppressive and dangerous. Soweto is bleached and cramped. The implied heat and stink of the place shimmers off the screen. Here there is no UNICEF, no bright sunshiny days of childhood. Here the children make homes in concrete pipes at the edge of the township, they carry guns and scavenge for their meals. Through it all, the dark and the light, the heat and the stink, the movie shows us that even in the most despairing of lives there is a place for decency. Miriam, the single mother who, with a quiet and beautiful dignity becomes involved in Tsotsi’s life. John and Pumla, who despite the acts of violence visited upon them, find it within themselves to treat their aggressors with grace.
And Tsotsi himself, who ultimately finds something he’d thought lost long ago.
The themes here aren’t new, the basic plot and premise has been used in many books and movies, but this one is worth watching for the way it brings emotion and humanity - without veering into the cheesy hollywood big teeth and fake tears version - to the screen. I found myself fascinated by all of the characters and unable to take my eyes off the two lead (and first time) actors Presley Chweneyagae (Tsotsi) and Terry Pheto (Miriam). If this is the future of film in SA, then they have a lot to be proud of, and we as viewers have a lot to look forward to.
