Moffie
There are parts of Oliver Hermanus’s “Moffie” that are brutally powerful, some that are quietly sensual, and others where it feels like what he’s aiming for is not quite on solid ground. Adapting the autobiography of André Carl van der Merwe, I feel like he might have hit the mark in going after one particular narrative element over others. That kind of works, though, considering that the adolescent journey of Nicholas van der Swart (Kai Luke Brummer) is messy anyway.
The year is 1981, and South Africa is still governed by the white minority, which has instituted racial segregation known as Apartheid. They are also involved in a border conflict with Angola, which is led by a Communist regime. At the time, white males had to go through two-years of compulsory military service with the South African Defence Force along the border. When the film begins, it is the night before Nicholas- who just turned 16- has to go into his service. When he gets there, it is a brutal training, but he also finds long pent-up feelings coming back to the surface which could get him in trouble.
The training sequences in “Moffie”- which is Afrikaans homophobic slang that is translated as “faggot”- are some of the most vivid in their intensity, and psychological anxiety, since “Full Metal Jacket,” and indeed, the stress gets to one recruit here to the point where he goes out the same way Vincent D’Onofrio’s character did in that film. All the while, we get to see who Nicholas is, and he is someone who- in a lesser movie- would be easily spat out and ground up by the military. He is sympathetic, kind, and has feelings that are starting to come to the surface, especially for a fellow soldier named Dylan (Ryan de Villiers). During a key flashback in the middle of the movie, we see Nicholas as a child have his awakening sexually, and it is one of the most exceptional scenes at establishing the psyche of a character we’ve seen in recent memory. As things get more and more tense with Nicholas and his desires for Dylan, the suspense builds in the film, and we are completely engaged.
Almost exactly like in “Full Metal Jacket,” however, once the film gets to the front lines, the tension dissipates, and the film’s drama doesn’t really hold out interest like it did. When Nicholas is done with his service, it has some lovely moments that Brummer plays beautifully, but “Moffie” had its most impactful moments long before that. “Moffie” still leaves a mark, though.
