Review of Tsotsi (2005) by Bill V — 17 Jul 2010

This is the second of 2 foreign films I viewed last night. This was a good movie because the story progressed towards hope and it was redemptive. You don't usually see this in many films; a thug and murderer becoming something better than that.

Set in Soweto, the main character named Tsotsi, is transformed from somebody cold and unfeeling to somebody who wants to fix what he has done wrong. Tsotsi is a killer but he can't kill a baby which he finds himself with after a car-jacking. This and a confrontation with a beggar in a wheelchair set him a restorative path.

Tsotsi doesn't stop being a bad guy. He stops being active and progressing toward evil. I don't think the story wants you to sympathize with Tsotsi completely. I think the goal is to show some people can change given the right impetus.

This is where I wanted more from the story and I wasn't going to get it. Tsotsi was only distracted from becoming more evil. His redemption was not complete. There was no new life for him and the real ending and none of the alternative endings provided that level of hope. Redemption is not something we make for ourselves. It's something which comes from outside of us and helps remake us. I think the baby and the beggar show that. Tsotsi, however, engaged in self-redemption which goes only part way. He was not delivered and he wasn't given new life.

Good movie. Rated R for violence and language.