Critical Reflection - Movie Poster for the Film “ Tsotsi”

In this essay I am going to analyze the movie poster for the film “ Tsotsi”. The genre of this film is a psychological thriller in which the protagonist is compelled to confront his own brutal nature and face the consequences of his actions; it puts a human face of both victims and the violent crime and is ultimately a story of hope and a triumph of love over rage. It was released in 2005 and stars Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Kenneth Nkosi, Zenzo Ngqobe, Terry Pheto, Zola, Jerry Mofokeng, Rapulana Seiphemo, Nambitha Mpumlwana, Ian Roberts, Percy Matsemela. This is a drama which is suited for viewers entailing parental guidance of eighteen years and older as there is a lot of violence and crime and language it is not suitable for all ages, in the movie it exposes real life scenarios and depicts what happens around our communities. The following elements on the poster will be discussed further; the characters namely Tsotsi and the baby, the setting, font style of the title Tsotsi, as well as the tagline.

Tsotsi and the baby are included on the movie poster because they are the protagonist of the movie. Tsotsi as well as the baby takes on majority of the parts in the movie; the movie is centred on violence and crime which is performed by Tsotsi and his friends. He is a gangster driven by violence and leads a loose knot gang that smashes and grabs a further point to explain this illustrated in the movie is when Tsotsi and his friends kills a man on the train. The baby has a significant impact on Tsotsi’s life as the baby was a turnaround point in his life, the baby acts as a ray of hope by bringing out his true nature revealing his past through flashbacks sequences and reminding him how he had turned into a thug. It can be seen that Tsotsi shares a special bond with the baby as he spends more time learning how to care for the child, he softens up and becomes more humanized and triumph in the struggle and conflict with his emotions between his morality against his hatred. The baby is a light into Tsotsi’s life and has mastered Tsotsi into a man who now feels the pain that he has inflicted on those whom he has hurt.

The setting emphasis the cycle of poverty that is a very real issue for thousands of children in the South Africa and indeed other parts of the world today this put reality into perspective when looking at the poster. Tsotsi lives in the township in a squatter therefore we are able to see on the poster the lifestyle of Tsotsi. These elements are crucial in referring to the theme of poverty and the issue of child poverty and homelessness in relation to Hiv and Aids related deaths of mothers as well as the subsequent harm and poverty related crime that exists in order to survive. The train tracks basis emphasis on a route in which Tsotsi takes in order to get from one place to another, he has committed many crimes on the train and at the train station. The train tracks are symbolic as it separates the city life from the township; there is a distinct difference between the standard of living between the township and the city life and this setting reveals the character’s history a life of crime but also practice in townships of having to”make do” whereas in the city life it is a life of luxury with many facilities and have access to electricity, clean water, modern amenities, clean surroundings. There is a gap between rich and poor more clearly. To further support this there is evidence in the film of poverty and affluence considering the logo on Pumla Dube’s shopping bag that Tsotsi had stolen to carry the baby off. At the train station there is a huge Hiv and Aids poster which states that we are all affected by Hiv and Aids emphasizing the issue of the diseases overhanging everyone in the community and is a silent killer. The glorious sunset in the background emphasis that there is hope, and may have a happy ending. There is some sort of light in the movie and it is not all bad although a lot of violent activities take place.

The font style is big and bold it stands out and tends to grab