Tsotsi

In 2005, director Gavin Hood made his breakthrough into the elite of cinema with, Tsotsi. The film wins an Oscar in the category of the best foreign language film. Representing the South African cinema, Tsotsi is about an adolescent boy with the same name, who is the leader of a gang around Johannesburg. They live in a slum near the city. Robberies and killing are part of their interesting activities at nighttime. Tsotsi is the incarnation of toughness and insensitivity. However, everything turns around when he finds himself in charge of a baby. The little one was on the back of a car that Tsotsi gets after he shot her mother. This new situation takes him into his deepest soul and back down memory of his own childhood. In the extreme poverty of the slum, the young boy has grown up practically on his own with an abusive father and a sick mother. Tsotsi has escaped those frustrations with violence. With the little one, the tough guy comes back to his humanity, the baby changes everything.
The movie addresses many themes such as poverty, violence and childhood. The décor of the movie is a virulent photography of poverty. The visual aspect of the slum is a very strong and underlined argumentation of how poor those people are. Through out the movie one can see the contrast between the rich world and the slum where Tsotsi lives.
Violence is also openly visible through the killing, beating and shooting. As one of the gang member challenges Tsotsi over the killing of the man in the train, he savagely damages his facial expression.
Childhood is another important theme. The young Tsotsi appears to use violence to escape this damaged childhood. His abusive father has refused him to get in contact with his sick mother. He has even attacked his dog. Through out the movie one can see those unforgettable flashbacks that come to the character’s mind and cause him to become more violent and agitated.
This is a great movie in term of realization. The low lighting effect matches very well with the kind of deep emotion inside this slum. Happiness is superficial and short in those places. The similarity is really great between the actual views of a slum. I have been in such place where you have to light candle in order to see your face at mid-day.
It is very unfortunate that people have to live that way. As we see the showcase of the two realities, the rich places in the city and the slum so close to each other; that should compel to everyone to question our roles and mission toward others. It is true that what you turn your cheeks on, can come back to hurt you in the long run. Tsotsi was a lost boy that frustration and his lost childhood turn into a monster. Things may have been different for him and many people in the slum if those in government positions or those with the economical power like the rich man on the train have come out to help. I sympathize with the character.