Title: Tsotsi Director: Gavin Hood Starring: Presley Chweneyagae Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Studio: Miramax Films Genre(s): Drama Rated: (For language and some strong violent content)

A man cannot change his destiny, or so the saying goes. The dilemma of whether or not a man can change who he is cannot be disputed. A man CAN change his life, destiny, and influence change! I know this, I’m currently reading a book about change and influence. Not only that, but having gone through many changes in my life (some as recent as a few months ago), I can safely say that change is not out of anyone’s reach, it just depends on what motivates that change. In a lesser movie the influence that would inspire change would be the love of a woman. In “Tsotsi” though, a movie about a lowlife gang leader, the inspiration comes from a child. A baby to be exact. A baby he unintentionally kidnaps when he shoots the mother and steals her car. When the thug leader realizes the baby is there, he is lost at what to do with it. Though the thug is obviously a danger to the baby, the baby needs him.

Babies cannot take care of themselves, and require other people to take care of them until they are old enough to take care of themselves. They are innocent beyond all belief, and thus the baby doesn’t identify the thug as a gang member, evil person, or the person who shot his mother, but as a protector. Someone that is bigger then he is, and thus someone to rely on. The thug looks at the helpless baby he has just kidnaped, remembering the parentless childhood he had, and deciding to take care of the baby. He has no means to feed or take care of the baby, with so few resources he carries the baby around in a paper bag, but take care of the baby he does. He looks at the baby with both compassion and jealousy. Jealousy that this baby is so innocent he doesn’t see the danger he’s in. Compassion because he can relate to the baby in a very real way.

This is a very interesting dilemma. I don’t think I can say that I can relate to this kid in anyway. I’ve been blessed to have excellent parents, good friends, pastors at church who help raise me up, and so much more. Truth be told, Tsotsi’s rough life just doesn’t register with me. Yet I could completely sympathize with him because he’s human. One conversation Tsotsi has with a homeless man is touching beyond belief, as Tsotsi asks this homeless man, crippled and in a wheelchair, why he goes on living. The homeless looks up to the sky and says with a smile “because I love the heat on my hands.” This answer shocks Tsotsi and we get the feeling he’s never really thought about life much before now. The answer resonates with him because he now has a baby to take care of, and in a sense his life is worth living for the first time in his life.

Thankfully “Tsotsi” doesn’t come off as a message film. It doesn’t even try to be particularly inspiring. All those drawn out speeches, life lessons, and conflicts that we normally get in these type of movies are sidestepped in this movie. There are conflicts with returning the baby and the cops out to get him, but they aren’t blown up bigger then they need to be. The characters may say something wise or true once in awhile, but it’s not fake or manufactured. When the homeless makes a speech about how much he loves life, we get the feeling he really means it, and not just talking to take up screen time. “Tsotsi” is one of those few films that don’t feel like movies at all, they feel like experiences. In “Tsotsi” we get the chance to walk around in a thugs shoes, and then we have the blessing to see him have a life changing experience. What a wonderful thing to experience in a movie.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -

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