Movie: TOTSI
Rated PG for mild violence
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 94 minutes
Release: 3 December 2005

Plot: This South African movie is a psychological drama in which the violator is compelled to confront his own brutal nature and face the consequences of his actions.

His mother dying from a terminal disease, the young David (Benny Moshe) runs away from an abusive father and lives with other homeless children in a series of large concrete construction pipes.

A few years later, David, who now goes by the name Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae), is the leader of a gang including his friends Butcher (Zenzo Ngqobe), Aap (Kenneth Nkosi) and Boston (Mothusi Magano).

The gang specializes in small time crime, muggings and robberies until things go terribly wrong one day while stealing a car from a young woman. Then it is a tale of a young man’s personal fight to resolve the violent world he is used to, to the human still living inside him.

Verdict:  Like all African films, it has a strong story line based on society and moral values. There is a strong western influence felt throughout the entire movie. Set in a Soweto slum, near Johannesburg, South Africa, the film tells the story of Tsotsi, a young street thug who must face the results of his violent lifestyle.

The performances are good, bringing out the betrayal, greed, struggle, and the hope of human kindness in a world of violence and uncertainty.

Tsotsi won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.

Starring: Presley Chweneyagae (Tsotsitaal means "thug”),
Kenneth Nkosi,Nambitha Mpumlwana,Benny Moshe
Director: Gavin Hood
Producer:  Peter Fudakowski
Writer:    Athol Fugard (novel), Gavin Hood
Distributor:  Miramax Films (USA)

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