South Africa

The rural areas of this film are sparse grasslands. They are uninhabited, except for people journeying around the dirt paths. But then again Tsotsi’s home can be seen as the country. The town isn’t typical. It has a country feel to it, but populated by masses of displaced people. Black people are squeezed into tight confines by the South African government. Blacks are forced to live in one of ten designated districts. Tsotsi has flashbacks of his childhood life on a farm. This is all greatly different than city life. An international airport is close enough to walk to. The city is modern and rich and in stark contrast to the life of people living in cement cylinders.
Like Once Were Warriors whites are seldom seen except in positions of authority. When they cops do a bust on Totsi’s shack there are two cops (one white one black) and the white guy happens to be captain. But apart from the airport scene white people are not present in this movie. That doesn’t mean their influence isn’t felt. Apartheid, the white power structure, has divided society, and has created the poverty that is seen. Apartheid is the major element running throughout this movie, but the white hands dividing the people are not seen. Only the results of forced segregation are seen.
The baby symbolizes Tsotsi’s redemption. AIDS has left Tsotsi an orphan. To survive he robs with his gang of baby faced thugs. Everybody is missing important people in their lives. Tsotsi and his friends don’t seem to have any family. The baby is Tsotsi’s chance to give a normal happy childhood, a childhood that wasn’t granted to him. He adopts a proxy mother who breast feeds the child. He provides food, clothing, and warmth, in the end he gives up the child to the rightful parent. So the baby represents Tsotsi’s misguided desire to live out a descent childhood. The baby is also stands for the typical existence of a child in South Africa. Though Totsi kidnaps (although unintentionally) the child, his actions could be seen as representing the way AIDS, poverty and Apartheid has stolen the lives of young South Africans. That may be a stretch. For sure the baby could be seen as the route of survival for South African children. That tremendous adversity will be subjected to the people of South Africa, but that something good can arise from the most terrible of circumstances. It is hard to discover what the directors meant to symbolize with the baby, but the baby was convenient in showing all the different ways people live in South Africa.
The movie is open ended on the future of South Africa. Poverty, the nearly invisible black middle and upper class, class segregation, and the disintegration of traditional families are all issues that are brought up. Orphans are caring for other orphans. The effects of AIDS and Apartheid are horrific in South Africa and this movie. This film is an indictment on the South African government, and the policies and inaction that led to the poverty in the black communities. And in making such a critique, perhaps the film is hoping for a better future for South Africa. Tsotsi ends up arrested, but in the process of the film he undergoes great personal development. The movie depicts life it is in South Africa. The creators of the film see a problem and hope for change. But the change for a better society is done by making a film for a global audience and reflecting to the world the way life is in South Africa.