However, it is one such country that, after a decade of independence, has captured the world's attention for its cinematic work. In February 2005, the South African film "Carmen of Kayalisha" won the Golden Bear Award at the 55th Berlin Film Festival, and in the same year, the South African film "Yesterday" was nominated for the 77th Oscar. In the spring of 2006, the South African film "Redemption" finally won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards. But different from the experimental nature of "Carmen of Kayalisha" and the social nature of "Yesterday", after experiencing a series of groping for film language, South African films move towards the return of human nature through "Redemption".
Who is responsible for their own growth? Tsotsi has been puzzled by this question. His mother had AIDS and couldn't raise him, and his father was an alcoholic who was always furious, so his affection became untouchable. When Tsotsi saw his loyal dog crawl after his father's spine was broken, he realized that if he didn't leave him, he would end up living like a waste dog.
The escaped Tsotsi was running in the wilderness, and he didn't know where to go. Neither his parents could bear his growth, and he had to clear the fog of life by himself. Years later, when Boston asked him "Where is your dad?" "Where are your mom and dad?", Tsotsi was touched by a hidden wound in his heart that could never be touched. He angrily gave Boston a heavy blow with his fist, and then ran away, running in the wilderness like a child, not knowing where to go.
"Running" appears in the movie as the first symbol, with Tsotsi's two runs constantly switching, with lightning and thunder in the air. The director used relatively static pictures and the idea of running to create a huge sense of individual loneliness. No one was responsible for Tsotsi's growth, and Tsotsi could not even feel caring and being cared for. If violence can bring him some pleasure, then self-examination after violence will make this young man feel the pain.
Since no one is responsible for their own growth, what is the meaning of growth? The lame old beggar in the subway station reminds Tsotsi of his childhood dog. Why crawl to live? Thinking the old beggar was pretending to be lame, Tsotsi pointed a gun at him and said, "Stand up!" The
lame old beggar said: Who do you think you are? Jesus Christ? (The Bible records that Peter said to the lame beggar, "I cannot give you gold or silver, but I ask you to stand up in the name of Jesus Christ." After saying this, the lame beggar's leg was healed immediately, and he walked into the sanctuary with Peter. Temple.)
Only then did Tsotsi realize that the old lame beggar was really crippled, and Tsotsi asked him: Then why are you still alive? Live like a dog?
The beggar said: I like to feel the sunshine on the street, even if I only have two hands, I can still feel the warmth.
This quote is important to Tsotsi: to live to feel the warmth. Tsotsi is not Jesus Christ of the old lame beggar, but the old lame beggar is Jesus Christ of Tsotsi. The lame old beggar appeared in the film as the second symbol. He stood in the position of the estranged and went deep into the heart of the protagonist, and like a god, he sent a gospel. The lame old beggar has his own friends and can read newspapers and buy lottery tickets. He used a positive attitude to join the WTO to show the enthusiasm of a humble life for life, which moved a healthy person like Tsotsi without a goal in life.
So when Tsotsi found out that he had a baby in his stolen car, he chose to take the baby home with him. His incomplete family made him never play any role related to family affection, and subconsciously, he longed to take care and be taken care of. In front of the baby, Tsotsi thought he could be his relative. Tsotsi wanted to be associated with a certain life, so when Miriam asked him who the child was, he said, "It's mine."
The baby cried and Tsotsi asked if he was homesick? But it was Tsotsi who was really homesick. Tsotsi took the baby to see a row of abandoned cement pipes in his former home. Tsotsi wanted to say to the baby: This is where I raised myself. Tsotsi looked at the homeless child beside the concrete pipe. He was so disappointed in this lonely parenting that he decided to raise the baby. The meaning of growing up is to feel the warmth, and Tsotsi felt the warmth of affection in the baby.
Miriam asked Tsotsi the baby's name, and Tsotsi gave him his real name: David. At that moment Tsotsi saw the baby as himself, a self who no longer had to support himself. The baby appears in the film as the third symbol, which means countless possibilities, responsibility, or refusal of responsibility; growth, or refusal to grow; warmth, or refusal of warmth. The baby made Tsotsi feel that people and people needed each other, and the Tsotsi who separated his emotions from everyone was a beast, not a person.
Miriam further softened Tsotsi's heart. He pointed a gun at Miriam's head and coerced her into breastfeeding the baby, which Miriam complied with, however she asked for another bath. Miriam's motherly act made Tsotsi feel like a father, he felt at home. Tsotsi began to hope to provide better living conditions for the baby, and he took his accomplices Butcher and Aap to the baby's parents' house to rob. Butcher, Tsotsi's companion, wanted to kill the baby's father, Jhon, as usual, and then loot it, but Jhon said, "Please spare me, my wife is still in the hospital, and our child has not been found." Tsotsi stopped Butcher. Shoot, Butcher doesn't understand.
Butcher searches for belongings, Aap searches for food, but Tsotsi walks into the baby room in a trance and sits there. He had never seen such a beautiful nursery, and he could imagine how happy children would be if they lived here instead of in slums. But Tsotsi couldn't be cruel, he wanted that child very much, because he felt the warmth of life in the communication with that child. At the end of the robbery, Jhon called the police, butcher was in a hurry to kill Jhon, but Tsotsi shot and killed Butcher, not Jhon. Tsotsi didn't want Jhon to die, not because of justice, but because he was a father. Father appears in the film as the fourth symbol, it does not refer to one person, but two Tsotsi and Jhon, both of whom are fathers. Tsotsi got the thrill of being a father in a baby, but learned from Jhon what a real father is.
Tsotsi took the baby items back to Miriam's room, and he refunded Miriam all the money from the sale of Jhon's car, asking her to raise the baby. Miriam refused to take it, she already knew where the baby came from. The mother of the child will never be able to stand, she said, and you can't give her the leg back, but you can give her the child back. Tsotsi took out the bottles and milk powder that he hurriedly took out, trying to show that he could raise the child. Miriam says that even that doesn't make you her mother. Tsotsi is silent, he has no right to give the baby true parental love, nor the right to disturb the happiness of others.
The meaning of growth is to feel warmth, and warmth comes from emotion. The storyline of "Redemption" is simple, but the meaning of "Redemption" is outside the plot. The director has stretched his eyes to the bottom layer of desire to find the most authentic touch of life. In recent years, South African directors have gradually shifted from focusing on the plight of survival to focusing on the plight of life. They started late but moved quickly, and have become an outstanding force in world cinema. They are shining like those gems that are abundant in South Africa.
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