André Carl van der Merwe s autobiographical novel is the basis for this visceral, disturbing ride
Author of the article: Chris Knight
Publishing date: Apr 09, 2021 • 10 hours ago • 3 minute read • Kai Luke Brummer stars as Nicholas van der Swart in Oliver Hermanus’ Moffie. Photo by IFC Films
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Article content
If you think
Moffie sounds like the title of an animated movie about a delightfully precocious bear cub, think again. It’s actually a nasty Afrikaans slang word whose nearest English translation is the equally abhorrent “faggot.” In 1981 South Africa, it was tossed around a lot, both as a casual playground curse and a hateful epithet.
André Carl van der Merwe s autobiographical novel is the basis for this visceral, disturbing ride
Author of the article: Chris Knight
Publishing date: Apr 09, 2021 • 6 hours ago • 3 minute read • Kai Luke Brummer stars as Nicholas van der Swart in Oliver Hermanus’ Moffie. Photo by IFC Films
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
If you think
Moffie sounds like the title of an animated movie about a delightfully precocious bear cub, think again. It’s actually a nasty Afrikaans slang word whose nearest English translation is the equally abhorrent “faggot.” In 1981 South Africa, it was tossed around a lot, both as a casual playground curse and a hateful epithet.
Moffie review: Gay South African military drama misses the mark
Tension and testosterone dominate the handsomely-produced but short-sighted South African gay soldier drama Moffie.
Moffie
A film about strapping, young recruits to South Africa’s Apartheid-era all-white military might be expected to offer moral complication along with its sympathetic portrayal of a family’s firstborn sent to train for war. But
Moffie (★★☆☆☆), directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Termanus, carves out a fairly flat portrayal of Nicholas van der Swart (Kai Luke Brümmer), who leaves for his compulsory military service an innocent, middle-class teen and basically returns that way.
Kai Luke Brummer, center, in a scene from Moffie. (IFC Films)
Kai Luke Brummer in Moffie. (IFC Films)
Kai Luke Brummer in a scene from Moffie. (IFC Films)
South Africa, 1981. A few teenage soldiers, tanned, blond, just out of boyhood, enjoy a rare night out with a few female companions. Michael (Matthew Vey) drags on a cigarette and informs their new friends that, “we don’t feel a thing.” Later, he repeats himself back at camp, near the Angolan border, where the troops patrol for landmines and “communist” insurgents: “I feel nothing,” he reminds himself, as soldiers shoot up morphine just out of sight.
Moffie review: The hell of being gay in apartheid-era army latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.