‘Moffie’ Review: A Stunng Gay Comg-of-Age Story Set In Apartheid South Ai - Hollywood Insir

Contents:

• REVIEW: ‘MOFFIE’ ADROLY PICTS A GAY MAN’S LIFE THE APARTHEID-ERA SOUTH AIN ARMY
• ‘MOFFIE’ REVIEW: ONE OF THE BT FILMS ABOUT GAY REPRSN EVER IS ALSO A DISTURBG APARTHEID STORY
• FILM REVIEW: MOFFIE ★★★★★
• ‘MOFFIE’ REVIEW: A STUNNG GAY COMG-OF-AGE STORY SET IN APARTHEID SOUTH AI
• A GAY WHE TEEN STGGL TO EXIST IN APARTHEID SOUTH AI IN 'MOFFIE'
• MOFFIE REVIEW: GAY SOUTH AIN ARY DRAMA MISS THE MARK
• IN 'MOFFIE,' A GAY SOLDIER COM OF AGE DURG APARTHEID IN SOUTH AI
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• RULTS FOR : GAY MOVI

REVIEW: ‘MOFFIE’ ADROLY PICTS A GAY MAN’S LIFE THE APARTHEID-ERA SOUTH AIN ARMY

Apartheid South Ai was expert at churng out hate s lg whe mory, and if one happened to be gay — then a leral crime — the loathg was ndned to turn ward, too, like a self-throttlg.

‘MOFFIE’ REVIEW: ONE OF THE BT FILMS ABOUT GAY REPRSN EVER IS ALSO A DISTURBG APARTHEID STORY

Key to the sanctned barbarism that fed the regime was s nscriptg of young whe mal to their ongog borr wars, a btalizg passage to toxic hetero-manhood picted wh prsurized sensivy and artful dread Oliver Herman’ pellg dramatic feature “Moffie, ” named for the Aikaans homophobic slur that followed anyone perceived as sufficiently story, adapted om a memoir-like novel by André Carl van r Merwe, is set 1981, when fair-haired, soft-featured teenager Nicholas Van r Swart (Kai Le Bmmer) is about to start two years of pulsory ary service the South Ain Defense Force, feedg a mpaign at the northern borr (what is now pennt Namibia) shootg at USSR-backed Angolans. Brand (a pulsatg Hilton Pelser), nastily fixated on riddg his ranks of any homosexualy. For Nicholas, beg gay means beg hyper-aware, a survival-md observer shrewd enough to flect any aggrsive jock talk that grows threateng.

That’s all may get to be, too, nsirg the punishment not only meted out ont of the recs to those ught homosexual acts, but also the mors of a horrific place some are beg sent to for further “treatment. His approach is to sensize the men, fdg a way to huiate each of them, immediately hurlg homophobic abe at them on arrival, tellg them that “faggotry” is lked to munism and the behavur of the enemy.

As Nicholas settl to the dormory the barracks, the word “moffie”—translated as “faggot” the film’s subtl, sentially a rogatory word bg effemate and homosexual—is weaponized agast him by one of his fellow trae.

FILM REVIEW: MOFFIE ★★★★★

Whout much dialogue we are often given accs to Nicholas’ ner-life through closps of Brümmer’s betifully exprsive face, as he’s not only pg wh the stras of the harsh environment, but also the ner stggle between self-acceptance and ndned ternalised-homophobia.

MOFFIE star Kai Le Brümmer on playg a young gay man nscripted to the South Ain army.

The Aikaans word “moffie” is South Ai’s answer to “faggot”: an anti-gay slur ed liberally and illiberally across the untry’s tangle of languag, sual playground teasg or btal bigoted asslt alike.

‘MOFFIE’ REVIEW: A STUNNG GAY COMG-OF-AGE STORY SET IN APARTHEID SOUTH AI

Each time the word is spoken, burrows a ltle eper unr the sk: Anyone who grew up gay pre-lennial South Ai may need to dig their nails to their armrt to get through what is both a shiver-lite exploratn of unspoken sire and a srrgly brilliant anatomy of whe South Ain masculy. This is Herman’ send gay-themed drama, followg 2011’s vivid, profoundly upsettg “Bety, ” and the two films prove plementary a variety of ways, both exposg the vlent homophobia prevalent the untry’s heavily patriarchal whe Aikaans populatn. Where “Bety” centered on a self-loathg gay Aikaner trapped by his own society, “Moffie” exam prejudice om the stunned, stifled perspective of an English-scend soldier learng to adapt or die his Aikaner-led barracks.

Ramsay observe throngs of worn young bodi motn wh somethg of the tactile, sensually tilted gaze that Claire Denis applied to “Be Travail”; the film’s wtit scene, off-duty soldiers play volleyball a scene that exprsly parallels the equivalent match “Top Gun, ” rrectg s famoly wkg subtext to more overt, unembarrassed homoeroticism. Unlike the often hhed, humidly dreamlike style Herman employs for scen at the ont, he shoots this flare of trma wh buzzg war-zone keticism — an exquisely placed remr that for gay or nascently gay men a hostile society, everyday life is one mefield after another.

A GAY WHE TEEN STGGL TO EXIST IN APARTHEID SOUTH AI IN 'MOFFIE'

It's also not thematic around homosexualy. Startg at age 16, whe South Ain boys went through a perd of mandatory ary tle of the often gelg movie “Moffie” is a rogatory Aikaans term for homosexual. And the homophobia displayed by the recs isn’t sual; ’s Pelser, playg a berserk drill sergeant named Brand, sometim mak R.

MOFFIE REVIEW: GAY SOUTH AIN ARY DRAMA MISS THE MARK

Bee, as the movie shows, the world of this army, merely exchangg a glance wh another soldier uld kick up enough homophobic fear and rage to start a rt.

That unbearable, paful erotic tensn is more or ls the staed mood of Oliver Herman’ shimmerg and sensual ary drama “Moffie, ” which is easily the bt movie about gay male reprsn sce “God’s Own Country.

IN 'MOFFIE,' A GAY SOLDIER COM OF AGE DURG APARTHEID IN SOUTH AI

” Set 1981 South Ai at the apex of the South Ain Borr War, the film’s story of gay unrequed sire turns out to be a sg for somethg far more lethal s marrow. It’s 1981, South Ai, which means ’s not okay to be a “moffie”; effemacy is a sign of weakns, and beg gay is also illegal.

Upon reachg the borr, the men are stripped, grad, and thrown to gelg bootmp-style activy whout pageantry — placg “Moffie” somewhere between “Full Metal Jacket” and “Be Travail” how juxtapos mascule displays wh their herently homoerotic subtext (barely subtext at all, really).

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

A volleyball game, gayg-up the macho polics already trsic to volleyball gam, is all ripplg mcl slo-mo, but the bety of the scene is terpted by a shockg act.

When two of his ras who engaged homosexual activy are trotted out before the briga, a bloodied utnary tale for all to see, Nicholas retreats further to the closet. Our gay ntent clus naked celebs, dick and penis pics, hot scen om movi and seri, and nu celeb vios. Oliver Herman’ outstandg Moffie hs at the tersectn of homophobia, immature masculy and racist culture.

RULTS FOR : GAY MOVI

Nick watch as two homosexuals are ught and beaten. In the harsh world of the army, a simple gentle touch has an erotic charge, and when Nick is forced to share a trench wh gay traee Stassen (Ryan Villiers) their simple moment of nnectn has enough emotnal weight to propel the rt of the film. They are brash, vlent and homophobic, but also sympathetilly portrayed; they are human, sentially children forced to fight a war they have been doctrated to believe .

Composer Braam du To’s tense, dissonant strg-led sre giv a further sense of an ternal storm, the film’s tle, translat as a rogatory gay slur, Aikaans for “faggot”. An unniable homoerotic charge ns through scen set army barracks, wh glisteng male bodi lavishly observed and brgg to md the graceful legnnair Claire Denis’s 1999 film Be Travail. Directed by Oliver Herman and based on André Carl van r Merwe’s 2006 tobgraphil novel of the same name, ‘Moffie’ follows Nicholas van r Swart (Kai Le Bmmer), a gay, English-speakg teenager South Ai, 1981, at the height of Apartheid and the war Angola.

Related article: Marvel/DC LGBTQ Reprentatn: Will Bisexual Star-Lord Amount to More Gay Superhero on the Big Screen?