Dispatches from the sunburned wastelands

I'm very excited about the fact that a little South African movie (finally) won the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles last night. The film is called "Tsotsi" (which roughly translated means young thug or gangster) , and you can have a look at the trailer here. I've only read about it so far, but it seems that the movie portrays the life of a young Tsotsi from the mean townships around Johannesburg, who suddenly has a life-changing experience after he steals a car with a baby inside (this is pure fiction, I know,...no, I mean the part where an SA gangster actually would let the child live...). It's got an awesome soundtrack, and I also hope it means more people will take note of the revolutionary new sounds coming out of the South African Urban environment - it's called Kwaito, and it's part Rap, part African dance, and part House...all mixed together, but amazingly sounding the better for it.

As per usual, the movie hasn't been released on this side of Quebec, but I'm just hoping that it's current Oscar success will change that. Hats off to the fledgling movie industry back home...and here's to showing the rest of the world that there's more to South African talent than Charlize Theron...

Posted by HannesB at 8:36 AM Comments