"Gangster Thug": Self-redemption in sin

A ruthless young man wandered alone on the dark street after beating up his brother in a bar. When a sudden heavy rain hit, a woman drove out of her car and opened the gate of the courtyard. The young man who was hiding in the dark took no time to get into the car. After the woman found it, she kept the door of the car and held it. The young man shot her in the abdomen. Then drive away. In the middle of the road, with a cry, the young man found that there was a baby in the back seat. In a panic, the car crashed into the trees on the side of the road. The young man wanted to escape alone, but packed the baby into a paper bag and took it back to his impoverished home. I don't know how to raise it or what the baby should eat. After two days of tossing, I found a single young mother nearby and forced her to feed her baby. Seeing the weak life in the arms of the young mother, the comfortable expression reminds the young man of all kinds of tragic childhood, the mother who was in bed, the father who was grumpy, and ran away from home in fear. Later, the young man and his two men sneaked into the wealthy baby's home and stole a lot of baby's items and milk powder, and decided to let the baby live a happy life. With the investigation of the case, more and more people know who the murderer is. The young man also made a major decision, returning the baby and surrendering himself.

The film is based on a novel written by South African writer Asol Gard in the 1960s. It is a simple story, but has a shocking touch. Recovering the emotions lost for many years from the baby, a lot of psychological struggle and trance, vividly depicts the mental journey of a street thug from cruel and violent to the resurrection of human nature. And from another aspect, it maps the living conditions of ordinary people living at the bottom of society, as well as their understanding and thinking about life. There is no criticism and conspiracy, just the self-redemption of a tragic and fateful little man, but it shines with extremely human light. After the film was released, it was sought after by major awards, and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that year.

The first time I saw a South African film, I didn't know where Johannesburg was. It just feels like the scenes in the film are like human living conditions on another planet. Dilapidated and impoverished streets, a group of black people with backward education, there are even high-tech residential areas, not like American-style planned and orderly blocks, nor like European-style classical streets. It gives people a completely unfamiliar and distant feeling, familiar and different from the past. Only the communication and memories between people can make people feel that they are indeed human beings with the same emotions as us. I don't know if the young man will find the long-lost warmth when he finally surrenders with his hands raised in front of the police.

View more about Tsotsi reviews