MOFFIE

 One of the best films to show the horrors of military training although the setting, (White South Africa during apartheid), is perhaps an extreme example. The raw recruits being turned from 'scabs' into 'men' in "Moffie", (the title is a South African slur for a gay man), are essentially being turned into homophobes and racists if they weren't already. The film's central character is neither homophobic nor racist but a young closeted gay man and he must hide it from those around him.

Directed with documentary-like realism by Oliver Hermanus and very well played by its mostly young cast this is a more subtle and understated LGBTQ+ film than many and a pretty horrifying reminder of what life was like in South Africa at the time and of just how toxic and destructive racism and homophobia can be and of how easily evil can flourish if we treat our fellow human beings this way. Although it ends on a positive note of sorts the horrors depicted here make those in Lumet's "The Hill" seem like a teddy-bear's picnic.