Boy Called Twist

A contemporary interpretation of Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” which is relocated to the poor streets of Cape Town. A mother dies in childbirth in the middle of nowhere. Fearing blame, the locals bury her in an unmarked grave and drop the baby at a rural orphanage. Now a teenager he runs into trouble and escapes to the city where he is caught up in a network of child pickpockets. The gang is run and controlled a couple of small-time pimps and drug dealers. His new friend Dodger teaches him the tricks of the trade, but the inexperienced Twist is caught trying to steal from Ebrahim Bassedien. There is a strange affinity between this old man (who has lost his daughter) and the young boy who never knew his mother. Bassedien takes Twist in and for a moment it seems that the trauma is over as the little boy encounters love for the first time in his short and brutal life. —TCM