TSOTSI

I recently went to see the South African movie TSOTSI. This movie won the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year at the 2006 Academy Awards. This movie was one of the most moving yet disturbing films I have seen in a very long time. It takes place in the townships of Johannesburg where life is all about survival of the fittest. Gangs and violence are the norm and become the only way of life most of the young know or aspire to. The young Tsotsi is a 19 year old product of his upbringing in this ghetto environment. He is the leader of his gang, up to no good with no future and nobody who really loves or cares for him. One night after a drinking binge, and a heightened need to exude authority he takes it upon himself to carjack a woman driving a BMW in a very well off neighborhood. Unbeknowst to Tsotsi he has also committed a kidnapping. The small baby he finds in the car becomes a source of inspiration and allows Tsotsi to really grow up in a way nothing else has allowed him to do before.
This movie has moments of extreme violence and can be disturbing but would not have been as effective had these sceens been toned down in the least. I would highly recommend this movie as I have heard from recent immigrants from SA that it really is an accurate representation of what South Africans live through on daily basis.