A gritty portrait of ghetto life in South Africa, the Academy Award-winner Tsotsi packs an unexpected emotional wallop. The film's title means "gangster" or "thug" in street slang, but here it also refers to the title character, a ruthless killer who governs his three-man gang with an iron fist.

One night Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) shoots a woman and steals her car, not realizing there is a baby in the back seat. The crying infant calms down when Tsotsi looks at him, awakening long repressed feelings inside the surly young man.

He quickly grows attached to the child but, realizing that he is ill-equipped to take care of him, follows a young mother to her home and, at gunpoint, forces her to breastfeed the kidnapped infant. He returns to her again and again. Miriam's kindness and maternal attentions to the child trigger Tsotsi's memories of his own brutal childhood and he begins to question his propensity for violence.

A hard-hitting and graphic depiction of those living on the margins of society, "Tsotsi" is, in the end, a classic tale of redemption. All of the acting is strong, but Chweneyagae and Pheto, as Miriam, are particularly notable. Pheto's subtle performance and Madonna-like presence carry with them an almost tangible emotional veracity, while Chweneyagae, who has no formal dramatic training, is so in tune with his character that he seems to be drawing from his own life experiences. In the end, this tale of violence and redemption -- adapted from an Athol Fugard novel by South African writer/director Gavin Hood -- exudes surprising cathartic power..

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