Tsotsi (roughly translated as thug) is a young man living on his own in one of Johannesburg's poorest communities: a place where holidaymakers never go and locals avoid. In the shadow of the big city it is a place of poverty and desperation, and like many of his peers, Tsotsi dreams of getting out. But with no obvious way of doing this he turns to a life of crime and along with a group of fellow desperados he makes a scant living as a small time crook.
When he goes solo to commit a larger job - the robbery of a well-to-do black family - he escapes with their car and an unexpected booty. The family's infant child has been left in the back of their car. Not knowing what to do, Tsotsi takes the baby back to his slum and tries to look after it himself, improvising nappies from newspapers and scrounging what little food he can. His fellow criminals become suspicious, and Tsotsi befriends a young mother who lives nearby and who promises to look after the child for him.
This is very much a film where the tables are turned on our hero: his story takes him from brash young thug to sensitive carer, and his dilemma over what to do with the child is the crux of the issue. The film clearly demonstrates how, despite appalling living conditions and a seemingly invisible social welfare system, the human spirit can not only adapt and survive, but also change for the better.
All of the main performances are fresh and natural - notably Presley Chweneyagae in the lead - and the set design triumphantly conveys a place where nobody would want to live out of choice. It's little surprise that the film has taken the world by storm, dealing as it does with such emotive issues, although it has to be said that once or twice the pace does lag, and the finale suffers from a lack of credibility. These may be minor quibbles from the source material however, and is to be hoped that the success of the film will pave the way for South African film to become a more regular fixture of world cinema.
