SPOILER ALERT: the following article contains massive spoilers, including the ending. If you have not yet seen the movie, proceed at your own risk, or better, come back to this article later!
The film is set in 1981 South Africa and presents the story of a gay teenager completing his compulsory military service with the South African Defence Force on the border with Angola.
South Africa’s white minority government is embroiled in a conflict at its border with Communist-led Angola. All fit South African white males between 17-60 must complete two years of mandatory military service- Conscription- conducting incursions into Angola followed by annual Commando camps, both training and operational. The Conscription applied to South African nationals but certain groups such as British passport holders (and others with dual nationality) could seek exemption.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Moffie Plot Summary and Synopsis
The year is 1981 and South Africa’s white minority government is embroiled in a conflict on the southern Angolan border. Like all white boys over the age of 16, Nicholas Van der Swart must complete two years of compulsory military service to defend the apartheid regime. The threat of communism and “die swart gevaar” (the so-called black danger) is at an all-time high. But that’s not the only danger Nicholas faces. He must survive the brutality of the army – something that becomes even more difficult when a connection is sparked between him and a fellow recruit.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0).