Online Reporter
JOHANNESBURG. − For Presley Chweneyagae, this was probably his finest hour.
The night when Hollywood embraced the South African reality of crime, grime and poverty in April 2006.
That was the night the movie Tsotsi won the best foreign-language film Oscar in Los Angeles.
The story of a violent young criminal living dangerously in and around the townships of Johannesburg was lauded for its apt depiction of life for millions.
Gavin Hood’s adaptation of a novel by acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard impressed many, including township dwellers in South Africa who have a huge appetite for United States action movies.
Shot in Soweto, the film told the story of a 19-year-old “tsotsi,” who is confronted with the depravity of his life while caring for a baby that he found in the backseat of a car he hijacked after shooting the child’s mother.
The film revolved around Tsotsi’s wrenching decision to return the baby to his parents, doing “the right thing” perhaps for the first time in his young, hard life.
“It’s a story about hope, it’s a story about forgiveness, and it also deals with the issues that we are facing as South Africans: Aids, poverty and crime,” said Presley Chweneyagae, who was the 21-year-old actor who played Tsotsi.
“But at the same time, it could take place anywhere in the world.”
It was Chweneyagae’s film debut briefly working in community theatre in his home township near Mafikeng. − Agencies/Mail & Guardian
