TSOTSI
South Africa, 2005, 92 minutes, Colour.
Presley Chweneyagae.
Directed by Gavin Hood.
Audiences don’t get much opportunity to see films from South Africa. Even the two films made for international audiences on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, John Boorman’s In My Country (with Juliet Binoche and Samuel L. Jackson) and Tom Hooper’s Red Dust (with Hilary Swank and Chiwitel Eijiofor) did not receive cinema release in the UK. Nor did Drum, an award-winning film about the stands of the magazine Drum in the 1950s and its reporting of atrocities.
South African directors have made a number of films about the aftermath of the end of apartheid and the troubles with young people in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Some films worth seeking out include The Wooden Camera, Dollars and Pipes, Zulu Love Letter and The Flyer. Yesterday, about AIDS in a village was Oscar-nominated.
It is a good providence that Tsotsi won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film. It gets the chance to be seen more widely.
Tsotsi was adapted by writer-director, Gavin Hood (A Reasonable Man with Nigel Hawthorne) from the only novel by celebrated South African playwright, Athol Fuggard. It has been updated to the present – which is not too different from the past when the young men of the townships emulated the gangster life. The film opens with some brutal killings on a city train and a robbery with dire consequences in a wealthy suburban home.
David (a strong performance by Presley Chweneyagae) is simply known as Tsotsi (a word for thug). He and his gang have no qualms about brutal treatment when they mug and rob. When Tsotsi steals a car which contains a baby, his feelings and his conscience are challenged. He remembers his past, his mother’s illness and death and his drunken father’s violence. He brutally enlists the help of a young widow with a child to feed the foundling. Ultimately, he has to make choices for or against the gang, for or against a sense of decency.
The film is well-crafted, shot and edited. The local musical score gives it an extra beat and an authentic feel. Maybe, the plot is in some ways predictable. Maybe the characters are somewhat stereotyped. But, the film is so well put together, with so much feeling and intensity, that it works very well in communicating to a worldwide audience.
Oscar 2005 for Best Foreign Language film. SIGNIS award at Fespaco, Ougadougou.
1.The impact of the film? South African film-making? Stories? Universal meanings?
2.Winning the Oscar, its many awards? Touching people worldwide?
3.South Africa, the 21st century, the film industry and talent, writing, the technical qualities? Local stories, justice issues?
4.The novel by Athol Fougard, the work of Gavin Hood? The adaptation?
5.The background of apartheid, experiences of segregation, racial tension, superiority and inferiority, oppression? The poverty of the townships? The images of the townships, the city itself, the outskirts, the contrast between the homes of the wealthy and the shacks? The railway station? Contemporary? The musical score?
6.The black Africans, the focus completely on these characters, rich and poor, work and crime, opportunities and lack of opportunities? The homes versus the shacks? The range of belongings? The townships and the streets, the bars? The heritage of apartheid and the townships? Poor, limited, angry and violent characters?
7.Tsotsi, his real name of David, the focus on his face, the card games, the group, going to the station, finding their mark, the close-ups and their intensity, the man buying at the station, in the train, holding him up, killing him, robbing him, everybody fleeing from the carriage? An ordinary day?
8.The group returning to the bar, Boston and his revulsion, being sick, reaction to the murder? Butcher and his not having any moral conscience? The fat man and his self-preoccupation? Tsotsi, the taunts, his bashing Boston? The owner ousting him, forbidding him to come back, her later questions, calling the police?
9.Tsotsi and his running, the images of himself as a child, running? His family, sick mother, his name, his father, the dog, cruelty, treatment of the boy, the effect?
10.The rich street, the car, the woman arriving, going to the gate, Tsotsi taking the car, shooting her, driving away, hearing the baby, his reaction, bewilderment, the side of the road, wanting to leave the baby, hearing the cry, his change of heart, taking it?
11.At home, the baby crying, his changing it on the newspapers, the condensed milk and trying to feed it, its crying? Going to sleep, his friends commenting on the smell, his watching the mother, her getting the water, following her home, drawing the gun, getting her to breastfeed the baby, her washing the baby, his taking it home, the bonds between the baby and himself?
12.The close-ups of the baby, the effect on the audience, the woman’s baby and their playing together? The contrast with the rooms, the toys, the opportunities?
13.The old man at the station, the confrontation with Tsotsi, spitting on him, Tsotsi following him, drawing the gun, talking with him, the story of his injury and the mines, his fear? The second time, Tsotsi giving him the money, the man’s surprise?
14.The mother in the hospital, her injuries, not being able to walk? Longing for her baby? Her spirit of vengeance? The father, his care, at home, the group intruding, Tsotsi and his collecting the toys, Butcher and the rough search for money and jewels, the fat man and his eating, offering something to the man? Butcher and his attempt to shoot, Tsotsi killing him? The escape, the fat man and his fear that his turn would come after Tsotsi’s bashing Boston and killing the Butcher? Tsotsi giving him the money?
15.The role of the police, the Afrikaaner policemen, the black police? The search, informed, confronting Boston in his room, the phone call from the owner of the bar, the contact from the father, coming, surrounding Tsotsi, the weapons?
16.Tsotsi, the baby in the bag, his going to the house, waiting, looking, the guard, the security, ringing the bell, the father and the mother at the gate, opening the gate, confronting Tsotsi, the father coming to get the baby?
17.Tsotsi, his grief, what might have been, the father and the mother, the police, his raising his hands? The end of the film?
18.What was the audience left with? What would happen afterwards, to Tsotsi, the police? The attitude of the mother and father – especially after Tsotsi had saved the father’s life? The background of South African atmosphere of truth and reconciliation?
