Moffie is a 2019 South African romantic war drama film directed by Oliver Hermanus, set during the South African Border Wars and the climax of Apartheid. The film is based on the memoir of the same name by AndréCarl can see Merwe.
Sixteen-year-old Nicholas van der Swart (Kai Luke Brummer) is drafted into the South African Defense Force (SADF) to serve a compulsory two year service fighting the Soviet-backed Angola. Though the dangers Nicholas faces aren't just the enemy forces. He's also up against the racism, homophobia, and hatred within his own country.
This film provides examples of:
- The '80s: The story starts in 1981. The party before Van de Swart's unit is deployed sells it.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Nicholas is this by heritage amongst his unit. Despite his Afrikaans surname from his stepfather, he is a native English speaker from a British background. Moreover, he is gentle and quiet and possesses delicate features, unlike the more stereotypically macho Afrikaners among his comrades.
- Composite Character: In the book, Nicholas has another love interest named Ethan. In the film, he is combined into the character of Dylan (who dies in the book).
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sergeant Brand is sadistic and hateful, subjecting the recruits to brutal routines and disturbing punishments in an attempt to turn them into killing machines, all while spewing homophobic and racist slurs.
- Flying Under the Gaydar: At the beginning of the film, Nick's stepfather gifts him a sexy magazine, which he later uses to play straight. Nick has to keep his sexuality a secret to avoid being beaten or sent to the ominous Ward 22, complicated by his budding feelings for a fellow recruit, Dylan Stassen.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Most of Dylan's experience in Ward 22 is left to the imagination, but he is obviously traumatised by it.
- Monochrome Casting: There is one black man in the film, who stands at a train station while Nick witnesses the other recruits racially abuse the man. This was an intentional choice on the part of Hermanus, who is not white himself, to show how black people were dehumanised while whites insulated themselves during Apartheid.
- Now or Never Kiss: Dylan steals a quick one with Nick before they depart on break.
- Scenery Porn: Cinematographer Jamie D. Ramsay certainly took advantage of the breathtaking landscapes found in the Western Cape, where Moffie was filmed.
- Silence Is Golden: Nick is quiet, thus much of his journey is internal and goes unspoken.
- Untranslated Title: The title, which is a homophobic slur in Afrikaans, is the same everywhere.
