WINNER of the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Tsotsi is a thrilling, provocative look at life in the ghettos outside present-day Johannesburg. Presley Chweneyagae stars as the title character, a teenager with a killer stare who lives alone in

WINNER of the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Tsotsi is a thrilling, provocative look at life in the ghettos outside present-day Johannesburg.

Presley Chweneyagae stars as the title character, a teenager with a killer stare who lives alone in a ramshackle room in a poor shantytown, where he pulls off petty crimes with the help of three friends. But things take a turn for the worst after they stab a man to death on the subway and Tsotsi (which means thug or gangster) beats up his friend Boston (Mothusi Magano) for trying to find out about his past. Tsotsi then runs off to a wealthy section of the city, shoots a woman and steals her car. Only later does he discover that there is a baby in the back seat and he carries it around in a paper bag and tries to take care of it. At this point, writer-director Gavin Hood could have opted for trite sentimentality, but instead he delves deeper into Tsotsi's psyche, as the young man might have already gone too far to turn back now.