Tsotsi

Tsotsi is a very sad, yet inspiring film. It’s about a poor teenager in South Africa who accidentally steals a car that has a baby in the backseat. He learns to take care of the baby and raise it, all the meanwhile he is in pursuit by the police. After Tsotsi gets the burden of taking care of a baby, he drops out of his gang and for the most part ends his crime-doing. Tsotsi learns a lot about life, innocence, and decency as he is looking out for the child. In the end, our protagonist decides to do the right thing and return the baby. This comes at a cost, for he must then also turn himself in.   

In South African culture, there is very much a racial divide. On one end of the spectrum we see whites living in large modern homes, and on the other there are homeless kids who sleep in cement tubes. There really never is contact between Caucasians and native Africans. This is one of those current issues that we all hope changes in the future.

This movie brings to notice the issue of apartheid, which has created so much tension in South Africa. We also get a glimpse at the extreme poverty that people in our world and our generation have to live through. The story is very touching, and for that I really enjoyed this particular foreign film.  

In conclusion, the audience learns a lot about South African culture and current social state. We also come to understand the real issues that the civilians must go through. I really did like this film, and reflecting on it afterwards assisted me in my developing and analyzation process.