Tsotsi
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
So many
art and foreign films get hyped up and still not seen, even when they win
awards. The Best Foreign Film Oscar went
to Gavin Hood’s Tsotsi (2005) and in
this case, it was well deserved. The
film involves the title character (Presley Chweneyagae) who lives a life of
fast living, survival and criminal behavior that includes him not hesitating to
shoot and kill anyone on sight. One
night, he steals a car and shoots the woman owner as she arrives home. As he shoots her and drives away, he
discovers there is a baby in the back seat.
In the
midst of this craziness, he starts to become attached to the infant, though it
is not his. He suddenly stops to think
about his life, life and the future, especially when confronted with the
ultimate symbol of the future.
Continuing to run with the worst crowd, this starts to have subtle
effects in him, but he cannot hide the child for long, especially when he and the
baby are being searched for. Shot on
location in Johannesburg, South Africa where it takes place, the film
takes us somewhere we have not been before in a place we still have seen little
of cinematically. Hood wrote and
directed with a true mastery of filmmaking and if all this is not enough to get
you to see the film, watch to the end to see if you can catch (intended or not)
the similarity to this film and Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Without
that, you will find a very original work here.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is not bad, especially considering the
many nighttime scenes, but cinematographer Lance Gewer bring some solid
composition and good form to the film throughout. He and director Hood manage to capture this
place richly as well as the great performances against this canvas and
backdrop. The overall result is palpable
and sometimes stunning. The Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix is pretty good for a film that was made under such limited circumstances
with dialogue recorded well enough and a good use of surrounds. Extras include feature commentary, deleted
scene commentary and alternate endings commentary by Hood, said deleted scenes
& alternate endings, a making of featurette and Hood impressive short film
entitled The Storekeeper.
Of
course, the other irony is that this is the among the very last films handled
personally by Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein before leaving the
company for good. It’s nice to move on
on top!
- Nicholas Sheffo
