Tsotsi and the Oscar

So not all my posts are going to be about the most recent releases. With some super hyped up movies (e.g. Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed), I just have a hard time making myself see them in the movie theater because I think I will be extremely disappointed. Then they win an Oscar, everyone is talking about them and I say "ok, I really do have to surrender and rent them." So Tsotsi was one of those movies. And finally after a year and a half after its release in the US, I decided to rent it from Netflix.

So the jist of the story is Tsotsi is a thug who mugs people for money and lives in the slums of South Africa. One day he shoots a woman and steals her car. As he drives off, he finds a baby in the back of the car. And for some reason decides not to be ruthless and take the baby with him after he leaves the car. And again for some mysterious reason he gets super attached to this baby.

Since I am not writing an official review about the movie, I don't feel like being objective like Roger Ebert and will not rank this on a one/two thumb(s) up/down scale. I am going to be even less scientific and will give it an arbitrary 7.9 out of 10. It is quite arbitrary but not completely random. I just feel that 7.9/10 is very fair for this movie.

Now, I don't remember that year's nominees for the Oscar but after having seen Das Leben der Anderen (Lives of Others), the winner of 2007 Oscar in Foreign movie, I really am not sure that I can say that Tsotsi was at the same caliber as Das Leben der Anderen.

The movie starts off very strong with an amazing view of the south african slums, booming ethnic music in the background(somewhere between rap and reggaeton) and Tsotsi and his gang of thugs walking into the scene. The vibe you get from the faces of the characters is wowing, they all seem very complex and interesting. It makes you really want to get to know all of them. Can't wait to see how they get in trouble and can't wait to see South African socioeconomical divide in action.

Unfortunately the plot does not follow the energetic feeling that you get at the beginning. The characters, despite their introductory premise, do not follow through. They remain shallow and stick to the obvious stereotypes. Especially Tsotsi... I still do not understand why he kept that baby that he accidentally stole. Then he kind of fell in love with a woman but the love encounter managed to have no influence on his character. As he is facing dilemmas, he manages to stay perfectly stoic and aloof, despite conflicting forces broiling in his mind, still vivid and painful. It is just sad to see all the interesting characters of the movie, at arms reach, still feel so foreign and undermined. It just needed a little more depth, in my humble opinion more flashbacks to Tsotsi's childhood, how he met his thug crew, more conversations about their dreams or lack there of.

I do have to say though the cinematography was out of this world beautiful. South Africa is of course a great canvas to work with. The soundtrack was so complimentary. Overall, 7.9: definitely worth watching.