Kai Luke Brummer in a scene from “Moffie.” (Courtesy of IFC Films)
The main character of Oliver Hermanus’ shattering “Moffie,” set in 1981 South Africa, is a handsome, white 18-year-old. In the country’s system of apartheid, he is a member of the ruling class, but he’s no insider.
Shy, timid and closeted, Nicholas van der Swart (Kai Luke Brummer) is conscripted into the army as part of regulated military service for white males over 16. There, the film’s title – an Afrikaans anti-gay slur – isn’t directed at him, but it’s hurled all around – an ever-present threat of ostracism and abuse. In brutal basic training, it’s as if bullets were already flying perilously close to Nicholas.
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Letâs begin by letting South African director Oliver Hermanus deconstruct the title, âMoffie.â
âOur title is a derogatory Afrikaans term for âgayâ,â he said in a press interview. âIt is a South African weapon of shame, used to oppress gay or effeminate men. When you are called this word for the first time, you hide from it. You edit yourself. It is when you first pretend you are someone else. The realization that you are visible is instant. All you know about that word is that it means you are bad. You are rejectable and unacceptable and during Apartheid, just like a black woman or man, you were a crime. And so, you needed to put it away, you needed to cover it up, kill itâthe moffie inside you. This is a film about how white South African men have been made for nearly a century.â
Intensely expressive, achingly sorrowful film The main character of Oliver Hermanus’ shattering “Moffie,” set in 1981 South Africa, is a handsome, white 18-year-old. In the country’s system of apartheid, he is a member of the ruling class, but he’s no insider. Shy, timid and closeted, Nicholas va
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