Tsotsi

Sawubona and welcome back to another Movie and TV Review!!

This week’s movie on the chopping block reeks of death and violence. And if you know anything about me, I don’t love it. Being reminded of one’s mortality dampens my fun substantially.

Anypoops, that’s what I get for not reading the fine print again.

I was determined to watch Tsotsi, or Thug, after learning of the passing of actor Presley Oageng Chweneyagae.

All this talk of death is putting me in a foul mood, so let’s get this over with.

We find ourselves in the Motherland, Africa. Namely, a township near a train station in Khomanani, South Africa.

The opening scene features a gruesome and senseless murder of an older gentleman who isn’t exactly well-to-do, but certainly isn’t starving either. My guy Tsotsi and his gang surround the poor fellow and murder him in plain sight.

Aap and Boston hold his lifeless body upright while Butcher removes the murder weapon, a thin screwdriver-esque dagger.

Cut to Boston, the would-be teacher, sick and hacking up bile from the night’s activities. He cries that Tsotsi has no decency, and the two duke it out. More versed in violence, Tsotsi bests Boston and is off to the races.

Tsotsi runs away, presumably in shame.

Once the adrenaline wears off, Tsotsi—whose real name is David—finds himself wandering through an unnamed neighborhood during a rainstorm. A car pulls up to a gated house, and a woman exits, demanding entry.

Seeing his opportunity, Tsotsi shoots the poor woman and careens into the night.

Unbeknownst to him, there is an unmarked baby, later dubbed David, riding in the back seat.

Choice and Circumstance

The film, I believe, explores themes of choice and circumstance.

Our antagonist, Tsotsi, comes from poverty and violence. Through flashbacks, we see him as a child of no more than ten years old, running in fear after his drunken father manhandles his already sickly mother and breaks the family dog’s back.

As a fan of Trevor Noah, I’ve listened to his autobiography, Born a Crime, many times. The man is a comedic genius, but I never imagined the shantytown townships he described in his book were quite as harsh as those depicted in the film.

Before that hovel, Tsotsi lived among other children in a complex of large round concrete structures.

I found myself wondering how he managed to move from the blocks into that upscale wrought-iron shack.

Must have taken a lot of robbing, killing, and saving to afford such luxury.

All jokes aside, Tsotsi is no fool.

He observes.

He questions.

He asks Morris, the crippled man he clearly has no qualms about killing, why he chooses to keep living despite being no better than a mangy dog.

It’s as though Tsotsi is searching for a reason to keep existing himself.

If that makes any sense.

Tsotsi’s Decency

Anypoops, Boston was wrong.

I believe Tsotsi had some decency.

He’s just selective about it.

Weirdly enough, his accidental kidnapping of baby David becomes the reality check he desperately needs. He’s forced to confront the consequences of his actions in a way he never had before.

I half expected him to run away into the poverty-ridden sunset with baby David.

Instead, he returns the boy to his parents.

I also expected him to take the coward’s way out by provoking the police into a full-on shootout.

Instead, he quietly raises his arms and surrenders.

What I found myself wondering was who Tsotsi became afterward.

Did prison harden him further?

Did he become even more violent?

Or did he finally change his ways?

Side Note

In that entire neighborhood, nobody heard that baby crying?

My guy left baby David in a shopping bag full of ants biting him, and you’re telling me nobody heard those cries?

Were they all that terrified of Tsotsi?

Or did they simply not care?

Final Thoughts

Tsotsi is by no means innocent, but on some level, he made the best of the scraps he was given.

I don’t like judging people—though I do it all the time.

You and I could have easily ended up in his shoes, exhibiting the same behaviors.

But then what about the countless other people in his township who aren’t stealing and killing?

That’s what makes the film such an uncomfortable watch.

Anypoops, I give Tsotsi 3 out of 5 rose petals.

I didn’t like this film much.

Let me know what you thought of our conversation.

Drop a like or comment.