Tsotsi

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Tsotsi is a 2005 South African drama film directed by Gavin Hood.

Set in a Soweto slum, near Johannesburg, Presley Chweneyagae plays the epononymous Tsotsi. Originally known as David, Tsotsi's mother died of a terminal illness during his childhood and he ran away from his abusive father. Adopting his present name (which means "street thug" or "gang member" in the vernacular of black South African low class urban areas), he is now a small-time criminal with two hoodlums, Butcher (Zenzo Ngqobe) and Aap (Kenneth Nkosi) under his wing. He has groomed himself to focus exclusively on his own survival; feeling no remorse for the acts he commits. His life is turned upside down, however, when one night, after shooting a woman to steal her car, he finds a baby, the woman's son, in the back seat...

Won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Tropes used in Tsotsi include: