The South African multi-award winning film about a young South African boy from the ghetto named Tsotsi, meaning Gangster. Tsotsi, who left home as a child to get away from helpless parents, finds a baby in the back seat of a car that he has just stolen. He decides that it his responsibility to take care of the baby and in the process learns that maybe the gangster life isn’t the best way. How strange, a movie where a bad man becomes better, instead of the other way around. 'Tsotsi,' a film of deep emotional power, considers a young killer whose cold eyes show no emotion, who kills unthinkingly, and who is transformed by the helplessness of a baby. He didn't mean to kidnap the baby, but now that he has it, it looks at him with trust and need, and he is powerless before eyes more. Tsotsi (2005) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Meet the cast and learn more about the stars of Tsotsi with exclusive news, pictures, videos and more at TVGuide.com.

Cast:
Presley Chweneyagae as Tsotsi
Mothusi Magano as Boston
Israel Makoe as Tsotsi’s father
Percy Matsemela as Sergeant Zuma
Jerry Mofokeng as Morris
Benny Moshe as Young Tsotsi
Nambitha Mpumlwana as Pumla Dube

Tsotsi Movie Cast

Zenzo Ngqobe as Butcher
Kenneth Nkosi as Aap
Thembi Nyandeni as Soekie
Terry Pheto as Miriam
Ian Roberts as Captain Smit
Rapulana Seiphemo as John Dube
Owen Sejake as Gumboot Dlamini
Zola as Fela

Directed by Gavin Hood

Summary:
It’s hard to fully empathize or support the actions of this South African film’s title character, but the story’s strong message of repentance and redemption is one that is almost impossible not to admire.

Story:
Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae), a 19-year-old orphaned hoodlum living in a shantytown just outside Johannesburg, South Africa, steals a car, but when he finds a baby in the backseat, he learns that he has to grow up and start taking some responsibility.

Analysis:
While there have been plenty of movies set in South Africa in recent years, “Tsotsi” is a different breed. It’s very much a South African story told from that viewpoint, rather than being a view of the country from outsiders. It’s been almost 12 years since the end of Apartheid, but as Americans, we tend to still associate the country with its separatist regime.

Without completely ignoring the topic, Gavin Hood’s adaptation of Athol Fugard’s 1980 novel, which has virtually no white characters, focuses instead on the problems the country has faced since then: poverty, crime and a a class system that has left a large gap between the wealthy and the likes of the film’s title character, a teenaged orphan who has been forced to live on his own for years. When we meet Tsotsi, he’s leading a vicious street gang who rob and steal to survive, and in a scene right out of “A Clockwork Orange,” he faces down a coup by beating one of them, a former teacher, within an inch of his life. Off on his own, Tsotsi pulls a violent carjacking, only to discover a baby in the backseat. Not telling anyone about his new discovery, Tsotsi brings the tot home and tries to care for it, even threatening a local woman from his shantytown into breastfeeding it. In the meantime, there’s a desperate police search for the baby, while the mother lies in the hospital after being shot.

The idea of a gangster finding and caring for a baby is nothing new, though Hollywood might have used the premise to try to play up the comedic factor, but here, the story idea is used to show the transition of a violent killer into someone finally able to take responsibility for his life and action. That’s really what makes “Tsotsi” such a memorable and worthwhile film.

The main obstacle the film faces, at least at first, is that Tsotsi isn’t a particularly sympathetic character, and he does a lot of things with and without his gang in the first third of the movie that makes you wonder why you’re expected to care what happens to him. At least in Tsotsi’s case, his lack of a moral barometer seems to have a lot to do with his upbringing and lack of strong parental figures. Fortunately, the film gets better as it goes along, the true turning point being when we finally see a flashback to the incident that made Tsotsi run away from home, and that makes things much clearer. Ultimately, it leads up to Tsotsi’s gang returning to the scene of his carjacking, forcing him to make a tough decision about doing what’s right, even if it means he’ll be put in jail.

Obviously, the star of the piece is newcomer Presley Chweneyagae, who does an outstanding job showing both sides of this troubled young man. The way he brings credibility to character’s transformation and actually makes you like him by the end is the true magic of this film. The rest of the cast, mainly consisting of non-actors, isn’t nearly as impressive or memorable, and some of the scenes don’t seem to serve much purpose to the overall story at first, such as Tsotsi’s decision to rob a homeless man in a wheelchair. Most of these start to make more sense as the story comes together later in the film.

While this story could have easily been told in any major city faced by crime and/or poverty, the Johannesburg area of South Africa brings another level to the film, not only because we get to see another side of the country, but also because Gavin Hood takes full advantage of the country’s rich culture. The score is enriched by the driving rhythms of Kwaito music—the area’s version of hip-hop—and we get a suitable taste for the plethora of languages used by various peoples and classes of the region. The cinematography is also quite fantastic, using wide-angle shots to capture the full scope of the Johannesburg setting, especially when you can see the barren wilderness in the foreground and the shantytown teaming with life in the background. Like Fernando “City of God” Meirelles, Gavin Hood is definitely a filmmaker to keep a close eye on.

The Bottom Line:
There’s much to admire and appreciate about this South African story, once you can get past the title character’s initial unsympathetic behavior and the lack of professional actors. Once you do, it’s a heartwarming story of redemption sure to win anyone over by the end.

Tsotsi opens in select cities this weekend.

Tsotsi is an African film that shows the contrasts between the rich and poor divide (Binary Opposition) and tells a story in the eyes of a thug and shows redemption and even a thug can change. Which is in the title. Tsotsi is translated into thug in english. This shows that not every thug is a thug all the way through him and even as something small or vulnerable as a baby can change even the hardest of thugs life around. The genre of this film in my opinion is a Crime Drama.

Tsotsi Cast

Narrative- A thug from Johannesburg is in a gang and causing trouble throughout the town he is in. When he is on one of his jobs in the rich side of the town he comes into contact with a baby that will change his life around. As the film goes on he cares more and more for this baby and he changes his life around and become less of a thug. You see the horrid life he lived at a young age that got him to this point and see the journey he has been on and will take. Only one person sees so much more than he lets on to be (Miriam) and those emotions come out more and more as the film goes on.

The Codes and Conventions of any film is basically the unwritten rules for the colours and lighting for that genre of film. For example if it is a comedy film then the colours will be bright and the lighting will be bright to make a happy emotion for the audience. If it is raining in a comedy film then the audience will suddenly feel down and not find it funny just because what is on screen. For Tsotsi as this is a Action, Drama the colours are dark and pure. It depends what is happening on screen. When Tsotsi is being a thug and hitting people or talking about bad things like when a flashback happens and he thinks about his father and his mother and how his father killed his dog and he ran away and thats how he become homeless its at night. So the colours are very dark and its raining which is a sign of emotion being poured out in the character even if they don’t show it. Its more than likely to show that they are upset or crying. When the audience see’s rain on the screen it changes their emotion as-well so the audience can empathize with the characters on screen. As we are looking through the eyes of the ‘thug’ then we empathize with him as we can see through his eyes but if there was another main character in the film and we didn’t follow his story we would look at him as a bad guy.

When the baby comes into view and the rich side of Africa, then the colours become pure. This is the point in the film that he changes his life. There is a point in the film when Tsotsi tries to stop the baby crying by putting on some music and dancing because he doesn’t know what to do. At first when he brings the baby back to the shanty town and in his shack then its just dark but as he goes along and continues looking after this baby sun shines through the shack and onto him. This could mean that his soul is becoming more pure with the help of this baby and now he has to look after someone else and not him-self for a change.

Already through this film at the beginning of the film the first shot you see is Tsotsi doing a stabbing on a train for money. So the audience reaction is not vert sympathetic towards this character only the character who got stabbed. The clothes he is wearing are very dark with browns and blacks and also leather. These are the clothes and the colors of bad people who commit crimes, you will see throughout the film the changing of clothes is different and more free. By the end of the film his clothes change from dark colors and leather jackets to a white loose shirt and black trousers. White symbolizes pure, church and freedom, with the help of the baby he is a changed person. The contrast from Tsotsi at the beginning from Tsotsi at the end is so different. If the he stayed the same person throughout the film then the film will be changed and he would continue being violent and he would keep on running away form the law. If that baby wasn’t in that film then you wouldn’t of had that story and nothing would of become of him. Baby’s are normally seen; in the eyes of people, immature, vulnerable, not a person yet, can’t cope on their own and they learn from adults. If you change that around, you could describe Tsotsi with the same exact words. But the difference is that he learns from the baby and not the other way round. He is not learning like everybody else does, with looking after this baby, he is learning responsibility and he is now getting feelings towards it. He looks up to this baby like a guru if you like to call it that. He teaches him life lessons without him knowing it.

The genre is Crime Drama. The reason it is Crime Drama because in the beginning you know Tsotsi as a thug, he stabs somebody on a train for money, he steals from a homeless guy in a wheel chair and there is aspects of crime in this film but there is also aspects of Drama in this film as-well like the flashback within the film when he looks back at his Family and the reason why he ran away and become the guy that he has become and that change in his life.

In the crime genre the structure is, there is a murder, then and investigation then it is solved. Within this film, there is a murder and there are knives and guns involved which you would link to the crime genre. There is the good cop and the bad cop and they try to find Tsotsi and how Tsotsi lives is with guns and knives. That is how this can be within the crime genre.

The Drama genre, normally tells you the story about family struggles. Which this does tell you when he goes back into his flashback from how his mother died form how his father treated him and why he ran away and how he ended up in the end. You can also class him changing with the baby in his life is a struggle for him to change his life and he cares for that baby and he didn’t think that he could care for anybody. The first time you see this emotion is when he follows the homeless guy in the wheel chair and starts harassing him. He reminds him of his dog that he had and become ‘crippled’ is how he described him as his dad hurt the dog and the guy couldn’t walk. This is the first emotion that you see from him.

In this film i think there are more elements of the Drama genre then the crime genre because this film is all about redemption and how his life changes and at the very end if he continued because the thug he was he would of ran away from the police and show no emotion but he changed. His clothes changed from being leather and dark to at the very end just a white loose shirt. That is the color of purity. He doesn’t want to give away the baby and shows emotion because he got attached. You could say here that he couldn’t changed without help and now it was time to let go he wasn’t ready. You can also say that as the baby was form the rich side of the country that the poor just need help from that side even if they just care and they will be come better people.

This film is all about the rich and poor divide and how people want to change. There is a scene that stands out to me when he first has the baby and he sees a single mother with her baby and he goes to her to feed his baby. But he holds her to gun point while she breast feeds. For a living she makes chimes and sells them. Tsotsi goes up to them. There is one which is old and rusty and right next to it is one very colourful and inviting and bright. He looks straight thorugh the old rusty one and touches the colourful one with his gun. Here is could represent him. The person he is and the person he will be. A gun shows power and security. As he just looks straight through the rusty one it could show that he is invisible and wants to move away from it and break away. But while looking up the the colourful chime and touching it with his gun this could shows he looks up to people like that but scared to step in that direction. You could say here, he is in limbo. Too scared to move forward but doesn’t want to take a step back.

Representation within this film is Race, Gender and disability. For race, as this film is a African film and the director is not african it shows it through the eyes of a different person. It shows two different parts of the country and what they go through in Johannesburg. Here they are seen as dangerous as Johannesburg has one of the highest crime rates ad as the main character is a thug then it points the audience in that direction. Through gender the male characters are the strongest physically but the females are stronger through mind. So it kind of equals itself out. With the disability is with the guy in the wheel chair. As he is a homeless person it kinds of shows him as weak and cant look after him self and he is vulnerable and a easy victim. In the train station people just walk right by him and not even bother with him. When they do bother with him he is being a target.

Theories- The film doesn’t just go by one theory i think it combines. With the Aristotle theory there is just a beginning middle and end. But i think think this film is more complex than 3 stages within the film. Levi Strauss theory is Binary opposition, this has defiantly got binary opposition between the rich and poor divide. Yladmir Propp theory is 8 types of characters. The hero, villian, donor, dispatcher (messenger) false hero, helper, princess and her father. I don’t think some of these apply but some do like the hero, villain, helper and the princess. The hero would be Tsotsi the villain would be the police, the helper or helpers would be his friends (Gang) and Miriam would be the princess. Izetan Todorov theory is 5 stages within the narrative.

1. A state of equlibrium at the outset- Tsotsi being the thug and does what he does best and commits crimes in his gang.

2. Adisruption of the equlibrium by some action- He hits one of his gang members and his gang falls apart.

3. A recongition that there has been a disruption- The baby comes along while he is steeling the car.

Tsotsi Cast Members

4. An attempt to repair the disruption- He tries to look after the baby but cant so he asked for help from the princess.

5. A vein statement of the equilibrium- The very end when he has changed and become a different person.

So i think the 3 theories make up this film and it just doesn’t go by one theory.

In this film you go on a journey with one particular person with a troubled childhood and the ability to change. The catch is that the change in his life was a baby. When he comes into contact with the baby he debates whether or not to give the baby back but as he is getting chased by cops he is forced to keep the baby in his apartment. He is torn between his old life and the new one that is about to come upon him. This film has so many emotional impact on you when you watch it. It doesn’t mean you will cry but you will feel different once you have seen it. When i watched it for the first time the ending got me and thats when i got the emotional impact. In other films you watch the gangster/ thug is the bad person, this film changed your perception of that character. When you see the life of someone that you think is evil it changed your way of thinking about them. The saying applies here ‘Don’t judge a person unless you walk a mile in their shoes.’ With the soundtrack in this film combines very well with the emotion shown on screen. There is a reason why this is one of my favorite films. You have to watch this film to actually know what impact it throws on you. It is not an easy going film to watch.

Structuralism is how a story goes. Its like the structure of the film, its what makes the film up. If you take away a part in the film it changes the whole film all together. The main part of the film is how Tsotsi looks after the baby, but what will happen if you took away the baby? This film will not be what it is. There will be no redemption, no change in his character and the whole story line will be different. I think it will just be a film about a thug and his life. I think it will be still a drama because of what happened in the past to him with his mother dying of aids and his father being a drunk and him running away from home. But without the baby we will not see the other side of him and he wont change.