Larry & Patricia's night out

Patricia and I needed a chance to get reacquainted after my trip to Germany and her clown conference in Massachusetts the preceding weekend, so we got a sitter. We especially wanted to see a movie, which we hadn't done in quite a while.

My new colleagues at State organized a Happy Hour at Ireland's Four Courts at Courthouse, so we stopped in for a brief chat and beer. From there we headed up Wilson Boulevard to Minh's, since we were in the mood for Vietnamese. We started with some spring rolls, Patricia ordered vermicelli with beef & shrimp, and I had spicy lemon grass chicken in a clay pot - sublime! The thing was, we had to wolf it all down because we had to get to E St. Cinema for a 9:20 showing.

Fortunately we found parking across from Ford's Theatre, just around the corner from the cinema. Patricia had her heart set on Tsotsi, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 2005. I wasn't too interested, since I usually avoid films with violence. I was very pleasantly surprised.

What a joy to watch a film with actual character development, which has become anathema to most American filmmakers! It concerns a South African gang leader who rediscovers his humanity when he accidentally kidnaps a baby strapped in the back of a car he hijacks. There are some parallels to A Clockwork Orange - the violence, the gang members, discovering humanity among hardened criminals, and (at least in Burgess's novel), redemption for the main character.

The scenes of Johannesburg townships are stark reminders of the poverty and hardships still facing South Africa. An especially interesting cinematographic moment occurs near the end, where the main character is surrounded by police and the baby's parents are standing on the opposite side of an automatic gate - we see the gate opening slowly, each bar of metal passing in front of the anguished faces of the parents. The music, performed by the popular South African artist Zola - who also appears in the film - is appropriately exciting, breathtaking, and deeply evocative at the appropriate moments. I'd give the film four stars (out of 5).