Moffie (2020)

Review

104min

Genre:       Drama, War

Director:     Oliver Hermanus

Cast:         Kai Luke Brummer, Ryan de Villiers, Hilton Pelser…and more

Writers:     Oliver Hermanus and Jack Sidey

-Synopsis-

Struggling with his sexuality in early 80s apartheid South Africa, a stoic young white man is forced to keep his sexual identity hidden when conscripted to fight the white minority regime’s ‘border war’ against its neighbours, only to form a bond with a fellow soldier which threatens both their futures . . . and their lives.

With so much of South Africa’s 20^th century history being inevitably defined by the blight of apartheid, it’s perhaps no surprise that its emerging cinema has focused more on the present and the future, often telling contemporary tales of struggle in the rainbow nation with hard-hitting vigour, even occasionally venturing into sci-fi to reflect the world around us. Now determined to weave together a personal human story about the present and how we got here, writer/director Oliver Hermanus delves into his country’s lamentable legacy and adapts André Carl Van Der Merwe’s autobiographical 2012 novel to tell a tale of sexual identity in the midst of racism, segregation, and patriarchal militarism.

Kai Luke Brummer stars as teenage Afrikaner ‘Nicholas Van der Swart’, a quiet young man from a middle-class white family struggling in silence with his sexuality in a less than understanding society, whose path to manhood is forever altered in 1981 when he’s conscripted by the South African Defence Force to serve in the ongoing ideologically-charged Angolan Bush War. But his tough training under the tutelage of unforgiving drill instructor ‘Sergeant Brand’ (Hilton Pelser) and the unruly attentions of his new brothers in arms becomes further complicated when he develops a secret romantic bond with fellow soldier ‘Dylan Stassen’ (Ryan de Villiers), as the consequences of their nature force him to suppress his identity while being moulded into a killer, with the only silver lining being the promise of a return to a civilian life where he won’t be accepted.

Unadorned and unmelodramatic, subtlety and minimalism are the name of the game for ‘Moffie’—whose title is a slang Afrikaans term for homosexual—designed to complement a spartan and gritty yet also tender coming-of-age tale about suffering in silence and living a lie for the sake of survival, with the hint of an unconventional forbidden romance and a harrowing ‘Full Metal Jacket’ style boot camp war drama thrown into the mix.

Despite being constrained by limited resources and the timeless quality of military greens and browns, Hermanus and his cinematographer Jamie Ramsay do manage to transport the audience to another time and place, capturing the arid beauty of the South African bush with a hazy quality and employing an oldschool narrow academy screen aspect ratio to give the picture a period legitimacy, while adding a sense of claustrophobia to reflect the protagonist’s plight. Meanwhile composer Braam du Toit provides an often jarring and off-key cello and violin heavy score, playing a key role in setting the film’s palpable mood and tension.

Yet in spite of the film’s period qualities, ‘Moffie’ is very much a contemporary drama designed to reflect the times in which we live as much as those from which we came, with the hot topics of homophobia, patriarchy, discrimination, and ‘male toxicity’ taking centre stage. But Hermanus and co-writer Jack Sidey never sacrifice subtlety and honesty, having the consideration to let the audience decide to what extent we judge the past by the day’s social standards, setting the debate against the backdrop of an asymmetrical cold war conflict in southern Africa, and a confluence of segregationism with extreme nationalism and anti-communist fervour.

Although ‘Moffie’ is centred, or at least framed around a two-man tale of forbidden lust, this is really a one man show. And young Kai Luke Brummer carries the movie with a real grace and maturity, delivering a mature, naturalistic and pensive performance which holds everything in yet reveals so much, presenting the audience with a tortured young soul unable to become who he really is due to circumstance, wrestling with the need to survive against the yearning to live and love—all written on his young face as he goes through the motions of indoctrination and the life-changing consequences of war.

For those who expect a certain something from their war dramas or are looking for melodrama, ‘Moffie’ might prove a little too subtle for its own good. There’s no real central tragedy to drive the drama or set the stakes, and if you’re looking for incident at every corner you might be somewhat let down. Yet there’s still plenty of conflict and turmoil to cling to, but the real tragedy here is an inner one and the true battlefield barely glimpsed through Nicholas’ eyes—the windows to his young yet already tortured soul—all of which adds to the unassuming power and resonance of a film about living versus survival in an often unforgiving world.

The Bottom Line…

Oliver Hermanus uses restraint and reflection to take a haunting biographical story and turn it into a stylish but sobering South African period tale with contemporary social echoes. Creating a poignant and powerful apartheid forbidden love tale, a meditation on discrimination and militaristic patriarchy, and a soldier’s story about longing and unrequited love, survival and suffering in silence . . . while launching a young star in the process.

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