Hot off the festival circuit, the new trailer for the South African drama Moffie has arrived.
Moffie (the South African equivalent of “f*ggot”) follows young Nicholas van der Swart (Kai Luke Brummer), a gay man fulfilling his mandatory military service in 1980s South Africa amid the backdrop of apartheid. As tensions between South Africa and the neighboring nation of Angola brew, Nicholas must endure increasing psychological stress–not to mention violent homophobia–as he and his fellow troops prepare for war. Amid the buildup, Nicholas also comes to recognize the evils of the racist system he’s sworn to defend, as well as his blossoming feelings for a fellow soldier.
Related: Effeminate ‘Moffie’ Student Not Allowed On School Grounds
Based on the memoir of the real-life South African soldier Andre Carl van der Merwe, director Oliver Hermanus helms the movie from a script he co-wrote with Jack Sidey. Moffie won rave reviews on the international film festival circuit last year, where the film received a nomination for the coveted Queer Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.
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Moffie comes to video on demand April 9.
canadalaw
I quite liked this movie, although it can be a slow burn.
spiralx
I’m still trying to get past the opening train journey, and their appalling misbehaviour to the guy sitting at the station. So far, I prefer Canarie, which leads you more engagingly into a darker tension over being gay and white in apartheid SA.
Good to see these African gay films emerging – the Kenyan lesbian one which did so well, also.
Celtic
I was actually moved to tears watching this trailer. I am a US Veteran who served in the mid-sixities. I came to terms with my homosexuality two years after my Honorable Discharge (and three letters of commendation). Someone once said or wrote, “The Military is the most homosexual environment in existence without the sex.” I am aware from my various readings that some of the fiercest Warriors in history have been (and likely are) homosexual; or bisexual. “It is what it is.”
spiralx
The Israeli film “Snails In The Rain” also looks at this, in flashback, and goes on to pose an interesting dilemma. As did Yossi and Jagger, in a different way.
KeithFFarrell
It’s rough, many of us never recovered. Imagine being made to do this. Yet when the country change. You were abandoned. The truth and reconciliation hearings only told one side. The ANC made sure their people were protected from interrogation. I know of a few people that never came forward. Simply because they were doing what they were trained to do. Some even received specialised training in America.
I fortunately was a medic. There are many sights I cannot get out of my mind.
When I left the military. I went headlong into the equal rights fight. What most people do not realise, gay people did not have rights or protection from the law, until 1994. If police suspected that two men were having sex, even in their own bed, by law the police could break in and arrest both people. The ages of consent was 16 for females and 18 for males. We insisted that it had to be equal.
Today, young people forget what we had to go through so that they can enjoy the rights they have today.
Fahd
I saw it, and its a very good film. Enjoyable on several levels. The actors are talented and nice to look at; a few scenes rated R based on sexual content would have been nice.