Tsotsi (2005)

Tsotsi is a South African crime-drama released in 2005 and directed by Gavin Hood. The story revolves around small-time gang leader Tsotsi (slang for “thug”) who’s in the midst of suffering an identity crisis. The increasing levels of violence involved in Tsotsi and his ragtag crew’s crimes has Tsotsi questioning his life’s worth and taking it out on his friends. After a carjacking that ends with Tsotsi shooting a woman, he discovers a baby in the backseat. Unable to abandon the child, he takes him back to his rundown shack in the slums. The helpless child gives Tsotsi a wakeup call to reform his ways, and the young thug must decide what to do next with his life. Keep the child and get out of the crime game, or return the baby to its devastated parents?  

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The foremost theme in Tsotsi is redemption and the concept of “decency” repeated in the film. Life has very little meaning to Tsotsi. His own existence is lowly, a constant struggle to rise up in a world that respects criminals. An independent, he refuses to work for the local kingpin. He’s determined to make his own way, even though it will be off the suffering of others. When a man is stabbed and presumably killed in what should have been a simple robbery, Tsotsi and a certain member of his crew, Boston, develop doubts about where their activities are taking them. Boston asks Tsotsi if he understands what the word decency means. The word strikes a chord with him, but not before he gives Boston a serious beating. This is the last truly violent thing Tsotsi does. His actions afterward are all in an attempt to fix himself. To remedy the situation he’s found himself in. When he finds the baby in the backseat of the car he’s stolen, he sees a chance to finally have something good in his life. Something pure; untainted by the poverty and filth he’s been subjected to his whole life. By naming the baby David, Tsotsi’s birth name, he’s showing that he sees himself in the child. He wants to give this child the life he never had. However, a woman named Miriam living the slums implores Tsotsi to return the baby to his parents. When he refuses, she asks if he’ll let her care for him. He agrees, though he insists the child is his and threatens her should she give the child away. When Tsotsi falls into more violence, killing the most unpredictable member of his gang to save the life of an innocent, he knows he can never raise the baby. He belongs to his parents. Returning the baby at the end of the film is Tsotsi bestowing redemption on himself. Finally, allowing the police to arrest him displays acceptance of the consequences of his actions. He has done something good following a lifetime of bad. It doesn’t make up for all the hurt he’s caused, but it’s the start of a new life. One devoid of the crime that’s caused nothing but pain.

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Tsotsi is a kinetic, gritty story of decency in a place where life is cheap. Other than Bombay, the soundtrack in this film was the most standout of all the films we’ve seen. The “kwaito” music blasts in the background as the perfect score for a movie as aggressive as Tsotsi. The tone of the film won me over right away. Fast, rough, and packing a lot of heart. Pretty much all of the movies we watched this semester had a positive message and ending and this film was no exception. Rather than watch a thug act like a thug and remain a thug from beginning to end, we’re treated to another character piece. A story of an individual seeing the ugly in himself and coming to terms with the lies he’s told and lived. The actor who played Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) had an understated intensity that worked for a criminal not fully confident in his capacity to hurt people. Seeing the struggle to shake his ruthless image was interesting in that even his kindness had a bitterness to it. The result of a quick, but effective backstory involving a sick mother and a coldblooded father. Even with all the violence, the presence of a baby added a sweetness to the film that simultaneously gave it great heart. For the sake of the baby, I wanted to see a happy ending. I got one. More than any film we watched this semester, Tsotsi was the most concerned with the idea of redemption. In my eyes, the message landed.