I was looking forward to this film, but was disappointed. I thought there was too much concentration on the brutality of the training and not enough on the war. I wanted some historical background as to why the communists in Angola presented a threat to apartheid, and why they needed to fight on the border. Also, the division between English speakers and Afrikaans was taken for granted with no explanation.
Then there was what was a central theme, homosexuality. One boy traumatised by his experience as a young voyeur, and the other possibly sent for electrotherapy, I wasn't sure. I would have thought that a more satisfactory ending would have been the two helping to heal each other. No doubt being gay in that culture would be severely verboten, but the film surrenders to that prejudice rather than seeking a means to negotiate around it. The attraction between the two was ultimately rendered meaningless, both left isolated and unhappy. Ultimately, it was a very bleak story.
Review of Moffie
