Analysis Of Tsotsi

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Recommended: South Africa a land of Cultural Diversity

Oscar winning, Tsotsi is a 2005 film based on a novel, written and directed by Gavin Hood. He sets the plot in South Africa, Johannesburg, where over half the population live below the poverty line, and more than fifth of the adult population are infected with HIV/AIDs. Hood tells a story about a thug who lives in the suburbs of Johannesburg, turns into a parental and caring figure for a young child. Not only will the story line effect you emotionally, it will also leave a mental mark by the end. David the main character, also known as Tsotsi, which translates into a street thug in Tsotsitaal, the language of Johannesburg and also where the name of the film originates from.
Tsotsi leads a small gang set out looting and battering harmless people in the city. An estimated 50 people die every day in Soweto, Johannesburg and Tsotsi and his gang of attackers are a prime example of how these events occur. In an overcrowded train station, without anyone else noticing, they are seen to stab a man to death, for money. The film also presents the harsh background Tsotsi grew up, which may sugge...

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