Tsotsi is an independent film by director Gavin Hood that tells the story of a wannabe thug young man who kills a woman and steals her car, only to find a baby in the backseat, who he then actually cares for as he becomes a better man. At the beginning of the film, there is almost no dialogue, which only makes everything that happens so intense. It starts off with a group of men betting on die. There are different extreme close up shots of what is going on, a shot of the dice, of the beer, a joint, money on the table, and a newspaper. It gives the many different aspects of their culture. Right after this, diegetic, African dance music plays as the "gang" walks through the village. Their is a medium shot of the gang that dollys forward as the gang does. It cross-cuts occasionally to pan across the different people in the village that have different reactions to the gang.
The next scene involves the gangs first crime. There are shots of each member, but especially of Tsotsi, we don't know his name yet but we can infer he is the main character. There is the non-diegetic sound of a lady's voice over an intercom so we can assume the scene takes place in a subway. The shot quickly pans to a man speaking to a vendor. It cuts back to Tsotsi and then back to a close up of the man pulling out his wallet. The shot cuts back to an extreme close up of just Tsotsi's eyes as he sees the cash. Throughout the film, the same technique is used. When Tsotsi sees something he likes, there is an extreme close up of it, which cuts back to his face. The gang then follows the man, stabs him in the subway full of hundreds of people and take the money. The next shot is so ironic because the subway goes from being completely full, to completely empty with only the man laying dead on the floor, in a matter of seconds.
The scene that introduces Tsotsi is also an interesting one. You find out that Tsotsi means thug and gang member, Boston, questions Tsotsi about his real name and he remains completely silent, perhaps foreshadowing that there is something about his past he is running from. There's an over the shoulder shot showing light only on Tsotsi's face, slowly zooming in as Boston asks more personal questions. It immediately cross cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Tsotsi punching Boston. There are a lot of intense color in this scene, especially the blood on Boston's face, which contrasts with the dark, desert landscape outside when Tsotsi runs out of the bar.
Another interesting shot is of Tsotsi running away from a fight in the rain. The shot is a medium shot of him, but then it cross cuts with a shot of a younger, crying Tsotsi running. This makes the audience think, what happened in Tsotsi's past?
My favorite shot is one of where the gang sleeps. There are huge drain pipes outside, stacked on top of one another and there is a long shot of the cross sectional view of the pipes and you can see a gang member in each. It reminded me of Rear Window, where you can see each neighbor in their window, except they are in drain pipes instead.
Throughout the film, Tsotsi starts to change as he starts to care more and more about the baby and as an audience we come to like him. There is a scene of him in his room with the baby he is now responsible for who won't stop crying. Tsotsi starts playing dance music (non-diegetic) and starts dancing, hoping to calm the baby down and cover the sound of his cries. It cross cuts between medium shots of Tsotsi dancing and closeups of his hands as he tries to caress the baby or feed him condensed milk. This scene alone already changes the audiences view of Tsotsi, the music is so cheerful and the effort he makes for the baby is so unlike the thug he appears to be, we start to see him as a good guy. Gavin Hood uses music frequently throughout the film to enlighten the mood and the situation, since the film takes place in a small village in South Africa that isn't doing so well. Hood's use of color and music are what made the film so enjoyable for me and would definitely recommend it.
