“A real find, by one of the most affecting and moving writers of our time.” In the movie “Tsotsi,” I see the lead character Tsotsi turn his life around from a common, uncaring, seemingly detached street thug to a character who wants to do the right thing in life, to have “decency,” a recurring theme throughout the film. Its my first time watching a South Africa movie, gloomy pictures and the slums are the main visual impression while I was watching. A gang of youths had been struggling with poor life since they were children. Fighting, theft and even murder are all their ways to feed themselves. Fortunately, a baby survived in one robbery case saved Tsotsi’ s gangster life. His kindness and mercy came to life. Then, at the end of the film. Tsotsi lift his hands thus end his lifeless world. The film is full of darkness, but the dawn is finally shown to us.
The major theme of Tsotsi is: In Johannesburg, the small time criminal Tsotsi is a teenager without feelings, hardened by his tough life. After killing a man with his gang in a robbery; hitting the gangster Boston of his gang; humiliating a crippled beggar along one night, Tsotsi hijacks a car and under the despair of a woman, he shoots her in the stomach. While driving the car, Tsotsi finds that there is a baby on the back seat and the woman was a desperate mother. He brings the baby to his house in the slum and becomes attached to him. For six days, the baby changes his behavior, arousing and developing the sense of empathy and humanity in the cold blood killer.
After watching this film, I shocked for a long time. I can feel the anxiety, fear, sadness, excitement and love inside Tsotsi as he makes every move. However, the other good thing about the movie is that, originally, Tsotsi lived with a abusive drunk father, his victimized mother and a dog. He left when his father brutally wounded the dog. So it must have been some sort of human quality that made him choose that way. All characters are well-developed and lovable. The locations are pretty nice and life in the slums is well portrayed. The movie never gets slow or boring. The soundtrack is beautiful even if u cant understand the lyrics. All in all, its a touching movie and a must-see.
