Tsotsi is a South African movie that won the academy award for the category “Best Foreign Language Film of the Year”. I personally loved this movie because the story of this was somewhat unusual and simple.
The story revolves around a young gangster named Tsotsi and a toddler. Tsotsi has three followers named Boston, Butcher and Aap. Boston was the smart one in the gang and Butcher was the hot head. Aap was the stupid one. Another important fact in the movie is that Tsotsi didn’t knew how to drive. In the first few minutes, they goes to a train station to rob someone. In that process, Bucher kills that man. But all of them gets away with it. But this made Boston angry and we see him throwing up after that.
Then he goes to see his gang and confronts Tsotsi about what happened. Then he asks Tsotsi about his parents because he was angry and ashamed of what happened in that train. He snaps when Boston asks that so he beats him up so bad and runs away.
Then he runs so far away in the rain and waits under a tree and starts to think about what happened. He gets flashbacks of his past in that moment. Then he sees a car coming to the house in front of him. Then a woman comes out of it and goes near the gate and screams through the mike to open the gate.
Then Tsotsi quickly gets into the car while pointing his gun at the woman and try to drive away. But since he doesn’t knew how to drive, the car gets stuck. Then the woman opens the car door and tries to grab him. So he shoots her and drives away. Then as he was driving away, he hears a crying sound from the back. He panics and drives the car into a pole. After that accident he looks at the toddler and tries to leave him in the car. But then he decides to take the baby with him.
He didn’t knew anything about how to take care of a baby. So the next day he changes the baby’s diapers and replaced them with newspapers. Then he put on some music and starts to dance so the baby would stop crying but it didn’t work. Then he feeds the baby milkmaid. Then he puts the toddler inside a paper bag and hides him under his bed.
Then he goes to that train station and tries to hurt a beggar. The beggar was in a wheelchair but Tsotsi thought that he was faking it. But after he follows that beggar and confronted him, he realizes that the beggar was not faking it. Then he asks him why you live like a dog. Then the beggar says that he likes to feel the sun on the street. Even with his hands, he can still feel the heat.
Then Tsotsi leaves the beggar and comes to his home in the morning. Then he hears that the baby crying. So he quickly goes there and picks him up. Then there were a lot of ants on the baby’s face and mouth. It was because he didn’t cleaned him up after he fed him milkmaid. Then he panics and cleans him up.
After that he sees from outside his window, a young woman with her toddler. So he follows her to her house and goes inside and pull out his gun. Then he threatens her to feed his baby. So she feeds him and then Tsotsi goes back with his baby. But before he went, he threatens her again and says that if she tells anyone about this, he would kill her.
At this time the police manage to get a sketch of Tsotsi from the mother of that baby. It was on the newspaper. Then Tsotsi goes home and put the baby on bed. Then when he was watching the baby sleeps peacefully, he gets another flashback. It was from when he ran from his house when he was a kid. He ran because his dad was a violent man and wouldn’t go near his mom since his mom was sick and was about to die.
The next day Aap comes to visit him. Then he tells Aap that he should not follow him anymore and he should make decisions for himself instead of always being a follower. Then he takes the baby to that woman’s house again to feed him. This time that woman tells him to give the baby to her. She could take care of him better that Tsotsi. He agrees with her after some convincing.
Then he goes to see Boston. He was in a shop and his wounds were infected. So he was having a fever. Then Tsotsi apologizes to Boston and tells him to come with him to his house so he could take care of him. Then all members of the gang goes to Tsotsi’s house. Then he tells Boston, he should face the exam to be a teacher since he was the smart on in the group. Then Boston says that he needs money for that. So Tsotsi decides to do a robbery so he could give Boston money.
Then he brings Aap and Butcher to the house where he found the baby. Then the father of the baby, John comes home by his car. Then after they went inside, Tsotsi puts a gun to John’s head and ties him up. Then John tells them that his baby was kidnapped recently so not to hurt him. Then he tells them that they could take anything.
Then Butcher tries to shoot John because he saw all of their faces. But Tsotsi stops him tells him “later”. Then they start to rob the place. At that time Tsotsi goes to the baby’s room and steal some formula milk instead of anything valuable. Then John manages to turn on the security alarm while tied up. Then Butcher panics and tries to shoot John but Tsotsi shoots Butcher first and kills him on the spot.
Then both Tsotsi and Aap escapes in John’s car before the cops come. Then they sell John’s car for parts and Tsotsi gives a cut of it to Aap. Then Aap says that they are done. He won’t work for Tsotsi anymore. Then Tsotsi goes to that woman’s house and tries to give her the rest of the money but she didn’t take it. Instead she manages to convince him to return the baby. So the next day he goes to return the baby.
On his way, he sees that beggar, he tried to attack before. He apologizes to him in his own way. He gives the rest of the money he got from selling John’s car to the beggar. Then he goes to John’s house and tells through the mike that he will leave the baby here. But before he said that, the police security guard at the house calls for backup. Then when Tsotsi was about to leave, the baby starts to cry.
So he picks him up and tries to calm the baby down instead of running. It shows how much he was attached to the baby. Then the police arrive and point all guns at him. But then John manages to calm everyone down and get the baby without anyone getting hurt. Tsotsi was crying a lot when he gave up the baby because he really cared about him and was attached to him deeply at this point. Then as the police cuffs Tsotsi, the movie ends.
This movie managed to tell the audience about the importance about education. The only thug who was educated throughout this movie was Boston. Tsotsi and Aap didn’t have any proper education in their lives. We could see that by the decisions both of them made throughout this movie. It also shows how one can reach redemption even though they have committed a lot of crimes, even murder.
This shows how unexpected life can be and we could attach to things in the most unpredictable ways. This movie reminded me “City of God” because of what people would do when poverty hits them. So I think this movie managed to capture a side of the society that everyone ignores or tries to avoid. So I think everyone should watch this movie. Not because it’s a really good film but because it also shows us the hidden side of our society.
