Tsotsi

This year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language film, Gavin Hood's Tsotsi brings new life to an old plot in which a hardened criminal is softened when he's suddenly called upon to care for an infant. That's partially because the film possesses a drive and intensity (backed by a pulsating score), beautiful cinematography, and a vibrant lead performance from Presley Chweneyagae in the title role as a violent young street thief. But it's also because the script is based on a novel by Athol Fugard, the South African playwright whose works have offered some of the most powerful commentary on his country's history of racial intolerance. And while Hood's present-day update of the 1960s story alters some of its imagery and emphases, the film retains many of the book's strengths, particularly in the application of its message about the redemptive power of human sympathy—dramatized in terms of the thug who comes to see himself in the child he's mistakenly kidnapped in a carjacking—to the nation as a whole. Encapsulating South Africa's social problems and potential solutions in a compelling personal story, Tsotsi is highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director-screenwriter Gavin Hood, Hood's short film “The Shopkeeper” with optional commentary (22 min.), a 14-minute “making-of” featurette, two alternate endings with optional commentary (4 min.), the music video “Mdlwembe” by Zola, and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an Oscar-winning foreign film.] (F. Swietek)[DVD Review—Aug. 2, 2011—Echo Bridge, 95 min., in Tsotsi-Taal w/English subtitles, R, $6.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD, 2005's Tsotsi features a great transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. DVD extras include audio commentary by screenwriter/director Gavin Hood, Hood's 1998 short film “The Storekeeper” with optional commentary (22 min.), a “making-of” featurette (14 min.), deleted scenes (8 min.), alternate endings (4 min.), the music video “Mdlwembe” by Zola, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a powerful film.]