Similarities Between Tsotsi And City Of God

Compare the attitudes to poverty in the films you have studied for this topic
The films I have studied for this section, the 2002 film City of God, Kasovitz's 1995 film La Haine and Gavin Hood's 2005 South African film Tsotsi all share similar attitudes to poverty. The films address the often futile attempt to escape poverty and the crime which is strongly associated with it.
Tsotsi and City of God are both set in favellas in LEDC's which immediately symbolises the poverty stricken living conditions. The 2005 film Tsotsi revolves around a young gang leader named Tsotsi who has little chance of escaping the slum of Soweto in Johannesburg and therefore turns to a life of violent crime. This is a recurring theme in all three films, suggesting
For example when the trio are stranded in Paris they visit an art gallery where their behaviour instantly excludes them from the middle- class citizens. Kasovitz emphasises their separation from the 'arty' middle class, further through their clothes. Vinz is wearing trainers and a track suit while the people in the gallery are wearing expensive jackets and suits. This is also seen in Tsotsi, Gavin Hood contrasts the wealthy neighbourhood from where Tsotsi steals the car and baby, with the shanty town. The electric gate around the baby's parents house acts as a physical and metaphorical separation between the two communities in Johannesburg, the favellas and the wealthy suburban district. Tsotsi is physically separated from the house via the gate, but again could also represent the clear boundaries in south Africa which stop the citizens of the shanty towns escaping their poverty. In one scene Tsotsi goes back to the house to perform a robbery with his gang, he sits in the baby's room which is filled with toys and decorative walls and appears amazed by the amount of luxuries the small child has. This contrasts vastly with the drainage pipes in which Tsotsi and many other children of the slum
The film shows the limited choices in which the citizens of the cidade de deus (city of god) have through the two (arguably) main characters, gang leader Lil Ze and Rocket who has ambitions of being a photojournalist. The character Rocket represents the ambitions which many citizens of the slums may have in an attempt to escape poverty, however are often tempted by crime and instead become more like Lil ze. At the end of the film Lil ze is violently murdered by a small group of young children, this illustrates that the film has come full circle and they will become like lil Ze. Which indicates that crime and poverty are closely linked and represents how perpetual this cycle of crime is in the favellas. Rocket acts as the symbol of hope, he is educated unlike other characters in the film like Lil Ze and Tsotsi (in Tsotsi), he undertakes a job at a supermarket again in an attempt to stay away from crime, although he briefly flirts with crime he realises he is to decent to commit any