Sep 12, 2007

Wiwille's movie reviews part 17

Proving her taste in film to be valued amongst your resident movie geek the lovely Miss Ash has submitted Tsotsi, a film I've never heard of. One of only three foreign film submissions Tsotsi takes you to a world most westerners never think of, South Africa.

The title character is an ugly thug of a boy. Raised in the ghettos and the product of a horrific home life, Tsotsi leads a band of equally morally bankrupt teenagers in various crimes including robbery and murder. After car jacking a wealthy woman Tsotsi finds himself with a baby strapped in the back of the vehicle. Instead of dealing with the infant as he usually does with people who bother him Tsotsi takes care of him as best he knows how.

While this may seem like a premise for a really bad comedy starring Tom Arnold, Tsotsi is admittedly a simple plot, but one I found profound at times. Watching this piece I became torn about the title character. At times I wanted to hate him and yet in another scene he garnered my empathy. With source material like this it would've been easy for the director to follow every cinema cliche, but this film rises above your standard Zemekis movie. I dare you not to be touched by it's heart pounding climax. Given it's great performances, good cinematography, and excellent score I highly recommend this. This simple story of redemption is worth your time.

Wanna see a film reviewed by Wiwille? Drop me an email or comment and you'll see it soon on Erik's Ramblings. Rules are posted here.

"It lays a stark narrative that's devoid of sentimentality but stoked with emotional power; without getting maudlin, it will tear you to shreds." - Amy Biancolli


2 comments:

Miss Ash said...

I'm glad you liked it :)

Mattbear said...

Interesting. May have to give it a try.

Alright, time to test your reviewing skillz. Let's see what kind of review you can write about Baraka.