Tsotsi (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.This year's Oscar for best foreign-language picture ought to have gone to Michael Haneke's Hidden, and nothing about the actual winner, Tsotsi, should persuade you otherwise. This is a modest, heartfelt story about a young thug (Presley Chweneyagae) whose life of robbery and murder on the mean streets of Johannesburg runs into trouble when he is forced to care for a baby he accidentally steals during a violent car-jacking.
Baffled by the demands of childcare, he forces a young mother (Terry Pheto) at gunpoint to breastfeed the mewling infant, inadvertently stirring memories of his own damaged childhood and eventual flight into street crime.
Writer-director Gavin Hood gets fine performances from his two leads and makes compelling use of the township slums, but the wild coincidence of robbing the same family twice and the improbably swift transformation of Tsotsi from viciousness to virtue place it far below the stuff of prizes.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments