January 27, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
JUDGING by the warm reception the Tsotsi cast received in Soweto during a roadshow, South Africa's official entry for the 2006 Academy Awards is set to fire-up movie houses when it is released countrywide early in February.
The cast visited the sprawling township, the setting of the film, on Thursday, 26 January. Presley Chweneyagae, who plays protagonist Tsotsi; Terry Pheto, who plays Miriam; Zenzo Ngqobe, the Butcher; and Zola, who plays gang leader Fela Ndlovu were met by an enthusiastic crowd at Kliptown Square.
The cast of Tsotsi get a warm reception in Soweto
"The audience loved
Tsotsi during its short stint at Cinema Nouveau in Rosebank last year, Chweneyagae said. "We are here to promote the movie and encourage the people of Soweto, whose lives are portrayed in the film, to go and watch it when it opens in February."
After handing out posters to the screaming crowd, the cast headed back to the bus and, despite the driving rains, meandered through the streets of Orlando and Diepkloof. Cheered on by voluble kwaito star Pitch Black Afro, the actors had a ball on the bus, dancing to sound tracks from the movie and handing out goodies to excited school children.
Zola said the movie, directed by Gavin Hood and based on a novel by Athol Fugard, has proved to be an international hit. "If people want to see the real South Africa, then they must watch
Tsotsi. Gritty and unsavoury it might be, [but] it depicts what is happening in our townships daily."
Tsotsi is concerned with six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader, Tsotsi, which means "thug" or "gangster". He ends up caring for a baby accidentally kidnapped during a car hijacking.
Nineteen-year-old Tsotsi lives in a shantytown on the edge of Johannesburg. Orphaned at an early age and forced to scrape a living to adulthood alone, his life has been one of "extreme social and psychological deprivation". This manifests itself in his diabolical actions against society as he grows up.
He leads a gang of social misfits – Boston, played by Mothusi Magano; Butcher, a cold-blooded assassin; and Aap, a dim-witted thug played by Kenneth Nkosi.
One night, after a drunken, brutal fight with Boston at a local shebeen, Tsotsi, trying to escape long repressed painful memories, hijacks a woman's car. As he drives off, he discovers a three-month-old baby in the back. He loses control and crashes on the verge of a deserted road.
Taking the child home, he tries to care for it in vain and eventually forces a young woman, Miriam, to care for the baby. A strong bond develops between the two and Tsotsi eventually opens up to Miriam about his past. He is forced to confront his violent nature and a miraculous about-turn in his thug life begins.
Internationally the movie has proved it can hold its own.
Tsotsi was a winner at the 2005 Los Angeles AFI Film Festival, the 2005 Toronto Film Festival and at the 2005 Edinburgh Film Festival.
It has been nominated for two British Bafta Awards for special achievement by a British director, writer or producer in their first feature film and film not in the English language.
Ster-Kinekor Distribution will release
Tsotsi in South Africa on 3 February.
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