best movie i've ever seen.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Tsotsi who lives in a slum, Johannesburg pilfers with his friends. One day, he attacks a woman and hijacks a car. However, he finds that there is a baby on a rear seat of the car while driving. He puts the baby into a paper bag and takes to his house.I thought about poverty and racial discrimination again through this film.Also I realized the importance of education. If people don't receive enough education, they cannot judge between good and evil.I couldn't understand all of this film because I live in Japan peacefully, but I was able to deepen my understanding of problems in South Africa.I had thought that human beings cannot change so easily, but I came to think everyone has kindness by nature after I watched this film.Of course, what Tsotsi does is evil and cannot be permitted, but I think that his bad environment influences his behavior. We cannot change the environment where we grew up. However, I believe that we can change our future ourselves.

I obviously saw this listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and I was mistaken into thinking the image of the lead character was a female LOL, he is a handsome guy, and then I read what it involved and I had to see it, from director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: X-Men). Basically Tsotsi, real name David (Presley Chweneyagae) is the teenager, small time criminal, gang leader and sociopath who has no emotions and feelings as he has been so hardened by a troubled tough life living in Johannesburg, South Africa. One night he and his gang of friends, Butcher (Zenzo Ngqobe), Aap (Kenneth Nkosi) and Boston (Mothusi Magano), get onto a train and surrounded by the crowd manage to stab a man for his money, and Boston gets a bad injury from Tsotsi hitting him. Next we see Tsotsi trying to steal the car belonging to a rich resident, he shoots young woman Pumla Dube (Nambitha Mpumlwana), and he is shocked after getting away to discover a three-month baby in the back seat, so he quickly strips the car of valuables and goes back to his shack with the child. Pumla survived the gunshot, but has been made disabled, unable to walk ever again, and with the help of the police investigating a composite sketch is made of the thug which runs in the newspapers. It is obvious that Tsoti is unable to care properly for the child, with bad sleeping conditions, trying to hide the baby, and unable to provide the right food, so he forces his way into the home Miriam (Terry Pheto). He makes her feed the baby with her breast milk, and meanwhile his gang members are approached by rich gang leader Fela (Zola) to be recruited and work for him. Tsotsi visits Miriam a second time and again has her feed the baby, and she offers to take the child and raise him in the better conditions he needs, as she has a baby and knows how to care for one, he agrees. When he returns home he decides to take care of Boston, aka Teacher Boy, after the injuries he gave him, but he also wants to help him take the teachers' examination he wanted to, but this may mean another robbery. Tsotsi joins Butcher and Aap back to Pumla's house where her husband John Dube (Rapulana Seiphemo) returns from hospital where she is recovering, one keeps an eye on him tied up, one raids the house, and Tsotsi collects some things from the baby's room. John activates the alarm, and when Butcher was going to shoot him dead Tsotsi stop him with a gun shot, they escape and Aap was shocked to see him kill their friend. The traumatised Aap stays away from Tsotsi, who returns to Miriam, she knows he got the baby, who he nicknames "David" after himself, from the wealthy couple, and begs him to return the child to his parents. He goes to the house of John and Pumla saying on the intercom he will leave the baby outside the gate, Captain Smit (Ian Roberts) and other police officers show up quickly pointing their guns. In the end Tsotsi tearfully gives the baby back to John after eventually being convinced to hand it back, and it ends with him ordered to raise his hands for the police. Also starring Jerry Mofokeng as Morris, Percy Matsemela as Inspector Sergeant Zuma, Thembi Nyandeni as Soekie, Owen Sejake as Gumboot Dlamini, Israel Makoe as Tsotsi's Father, Sindi Khambule as Tsotsi's Mother and Benny Moshe as Young Tsotsi. In the role as the title character Chweneyagae gives a remarkable underplayed performance that sees almost no emotion and it all being in the eyes, he obviously starts as a threatening young man, but he grows as he finds his softer side, it is a compelling story with thought-provoking material, great urban Kwaito music soundtrack, and on location scenery, all adding up to a fantastic crime drama. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, it was nominated the BAFTAs for Best Film not in the English Language, and it Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer for producer Peter Fudakowski, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!

Tsotsi directed by Gavin Hood was a story based in Africa, showing a different side that many people do not realize that a lot of that country has many issues that are addressed throughout this movie. In Tsotsi we start off following Tsotsi, who is a young adult probably around the age of sixteen or eighteen, and his buddies Aap, Boston, and Butcher. These four partners commit crimes to makes money called "jobs", the first job we as the viewers get to witness is when Tsotsi and the three friends follow a high roller man into a subway and rob him, and while robbing him they kill this innocent man. Later on through the story Tsotsi is on his own, alone and kind of nervous, he sees a lady pull up in a nice house and is locked out of her gate, so while she isn't paying attention Tsotsi steals her car as she runs toward him he shoots her. Little did he know that a baby was in that back seat, at first Tsotsi was about to leave the baby, but decided to take him to his house. As the movie progress you see that Tsotsi grows into a different young man, with the responsibilities of the child he has taken, has shaped him in a way that helps him understand life and the meaning to it. However, Tsotsi has to make the biggest decision of his life, which is to take the baby back to its rightful family. In doing this he decides to take the baby to his mother and father, by turning himself in, but as you witness something new in Tsotsi as the parents ask for the baby it is hard for him to let go, because how attached he had become to the baby or "his new life".

"Tsotsi," directed by Gavin Hood is set in Johannesburg, South Africa and tells the story of Tsotsi, a young street thug. In the beginning, I was a bit skeptical of the movie because the violence in the movie made it difficult for me to watch. As the movie pans out, I became intrigued by Tsotsi and found myself feeling genuinely sorry for him regardless of his actions. In the beginning I did not like him at all, but later on we find out that his mother is dying and he is restricted from seeing her by his father. Tsotsi ends up fending for himself and as a result does anything he can to survive. In one of the scenes he steals a car only to find a baby in the backseat. Not knowing what to do, he ends up taking the baby and becomes frustrated with having to provide for it. He follows a woman home and threatens to shoot her. Tsotsi asks her to feed the baby knowing that she is capable of doing so. It's his woman and the baby that eventually makes him a less aggressive person. I liked the way the movie played out. The audience begins to find out things about Tsotsi that explain his behaviors which caused me to be intrigued and feel sorry for him. Gavin Hood's African cinematography was excellent and really painted a wonderful picture of South Africa. I liked the music and thought it accompanied the movie nicely. I would recommend this movie to most. However, there are some rather violent scenes in the movie. Overall, great acting by Presley Chweneyagae and directing by Gavin Hood.