Tsoti

Tsotsi tells the story of a young man who had a rough life and ended up practically raising himself on the streets. While raising himself he was the only person that he saw fit to answer to. With out any guidance or guardianship it was rare if ever that Tsotsi ever had to face or pay the consequences of his actions. 

After Tsotsi’s mother took sick and he fled his father in fear at a young age he built a wall around himself and his past which prevented him from feeling compassion or any other emotion that would cause his heart to be weak. 

It’s crazy how some things can be passed down generation to generation with or with out intent. Tsotsi’s father was a man who had his power in the household with thanks to the fear that his family had of him. That same fear that Tsotsi learned to demand from others acted as his fuel. 

No one knew where Tsotsi came from, who his people were; they didn’t even know what his real name was. Those were all things from his past and that’s where he wanted them to remain. 

After Tsotsi and his gang of friends robbed and killed a man on a train Tsotsi’s decency as a human being is questioned by a drunk friend. In this line of questioning Tsotsi is forced to think back on what he didn’t want to be reminded of; why he is the way he is today. From here he proceeds to beat all kinds of sense out of his “friend”.  At this point I too started to question Tsotsi’s decency. Had he no limit?

It seemed that the whooping he laid out on his friend drained him so he had to go and reboot aka he had to go and wreak havoc in someone else’s life. He harasses and old man at a train station who is clearly crippled and unable to defend himself in any way. Right about now I am with out any doubt that Tsotsi is just an animal with no remorse or concern for his fellow man. He has no decency at all. 

Just when you think he can’t take it any further he car jacks woman right in front of her house at gun point not knowing that her baby is in the back seat. Here’s where the power of innocence that a child possess is shown. The inner bad boy in Tsotsi wanted to leave the crying baby and move on with his life. Here’s where we see that Tsosi actually has an oz of decency left with in him. Because of the impact that that baby had on him we slowly started to see Tsotsi make positive changes in his life. He didn’t want to really do the things that he had been doing before. He didn’t even necessarily deal with those that he was used to dealing with. He actually went around making peace with some of those that he had harmed in the past. 

It’s sad that the woman who was helping with the baby was only a few years older than Tsotsi herself. She was also a widow and a mother of her own baby. The living condions that they lived in demanded neighborly assistance, desired or other wise.This movie demonstrated that it takes a village to raise a child. There is no way that Tsotsi would have been able to take care of that baby for as long as he did with out the help of a woman in his community.

I like to think that even though Tsotsi was forced into his way of thinking as a way of survival, he knew his lifestyle was wrong; it was just the only way that he knew how to survive at this point but he didn’t genuinely want to ruin someone else’s life especially not that of a child.