South Africa has been and remains both a mystery and a miracle. The mystery of life after the drying out of common death. The miracle of a transformation that was led onto smooth tracks by a man who could have died in the presidential office and decided to retire in full possession of his consciousness and with quite a few years ahead for him to enjoy the brand new liberty he has enabled his country to finally discover. It is a parable of this transformation that has to take place in the soul of every single citizen, one after the other, and all in the solitude of meditation and reflection. This happens with Tsotsi on the day when the crying of a baby reminds him of the time when he was brutalized by his own father. This crying meant his past of alienation and victimization could be cauterized and bought back to become a beacon on the road to salvation. Just let your heart speak and do something good to repair the evil you may have done or the evil one may have done to you. The hungry tears of a baby can open up the sky of a soul to reveal all the stars and the moon that are shining up there waiting for you to capture their brilliance and turn it into the energy you need to turn the page, to finally discover the value of love, the love of a baby, your love for the baby, and the deepest ever desire to transform the world by transforming yourself because history is done in the mental melting pot of our individual spiritualities and minds. Then and only then can David stand up in front of Goliath. An optimistic film among so many that are not and it all dances on the edge of a sharp blade that could turn better into worse and a miraculous epiphany into a bloody mess.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne