Tsotsi



Last night, after the Dybek-Terkel event, I stopped in at Mark Cuban's* Landmark Century Theater at Clark & Diversey to watch the Academy Award Winning Film "Tsotsi".

Great stuff! Emotional, conflicted, pulsing with vibrant energy.

It is a modernized variant of Athol Fugard's story of the same name (1983). In 2003, when I visited the old haunts in SA, a stage version of Tsotsi was the hit at the Market Theater. As a film, it reminds one somewhat of "City of God" and whatever shortcomings it has are overcome by the strength of the characters.

Between "Tsotsi" and "Yesterday" you get quite the picture of the major tensions in South African life. "Yesterday" gave you a glimpse at some of the tensions between the traditional and the modern and how the spirit of life can overcome the shortcomings of both. "Tsotsi" sets you in the greatening divide between the rich and the poor, a divide that increasingly has less and less to do with race, and leaves you wondering what you'd do to make it across.

I have to look at all South African film through my own prism (prison?) of experiences from my time in the Peace Corps in SA. So, what jumped out at me about Tsotsi was the soundtrack. It was Vusi, Zola, and some Mafikozolo. Vusi Mahlasela is perhaps my favorite of the SA folk/rolk singers. He's really something else. I've been able to see him play at Chicago's Hothouse several times now. Increasingly, I believe that Vusi and Louis Mhlanga's "Live at the Bassline" is one of the seminal SA folk/rock albums. Mafikozolo is "new", they weren't in the public consciousness when I was in SA, but were the big thing when I went back to visit in 2003. Zola (and TKZee) represent the sound heard at every shebeen and dance-shack in every village and township at the very odd hour of the night when you knew you shouldn't be out. It is fitting that this is the sound of much of the film.

The township/camp was real -- down to the contents of the shacks. The train station at Jo'Burg was cleaner in the film than I remember it. There's a scene on the train... well, it's exactly what you're told to get scared about. I was in that train station more than a few times, but always to take the bus cross-country. The long distance trains were another matter, but we were always told that the commuter trains were scary (I should say here that the two long-distance train rides I took in SA were themselves on-the-edge experiences, and that you're better off taking the greyhound). The suburbs with their ghastly opulance were real as well. Most telling, the walk between the two is generally as short as the movie makes it feel.

I hope that some of my american friends who weren't in the Peace Corps choose to see this film (if only so that I can talk about it with you). Hell, I'll see it multiple times if that helps. It's important to me that people try to appreciate the world beyond the headlines... I'll stop right here, it's too late at night for me to get on my soapbox.


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henri xolani of SA5 fame wrote a review here
Metacritic (where you really should go for reviews) collects reviews from news sources on tsotsi here

*Note: I feel obliged to point out that Mark Cuban has bought all the landmark century theaters across the country. Thanks to his common sense, I was able to buy the soundtrack to the movie at the movie theater immediately after seeing the film.

Posted: Wed - March 15, 2006 at 01:16 AM      

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