I approached the film with trepidation, as I usually avoid Willie Esterhuizen's movies due to their lower-than-lowest-common-denominator approach to comedy. The closest I usually get to this type of comedy is "Bakgat", which by comparison looks like Von Trier's latest filmic bombast. On a previous effort, "Poena is Koning", a friend commented how it's not just the sexism that's bad in his movies; it's also the blatant racism and fattism that get you. "Stoute Boudjies" features rampant sexism, as well as fattism (guess who's the perpetual loser?) and racism. (If an actor of colour willingly participates in a film like this for a paycheck, what do we do with the notion of racism?)
Some background: Esterhuizen was a successful showman who was responsible for two favourite Afrikaans sitcoms, "Orkney Snork Nie" (Woepsie-wapsie!) and later the lesser but still successful "Vetkoetpaleis". Nothing he's done since has reached the level of popularity that those shows obtained in the 1990s. As for his film work, it was his "Lipstiek Dipstiek" in the mid 1990s that made sex part of popular braaivleis discourse. It was OK to talk about genitals now, since it's funny; Seff Effrica would never be the same again. Given how conservative most of South African entertainment was until 1994, Esterhuizen did break some new ground, even if it was limited to how much naked flesh you could get away with on screen. It was "Last Tango in Joburg" for the Afrikaans adult comedy crowd, but without sophistication.
Afrikaans isn't a world language, and the lighter-skinned group of people who speak it constitutes a minority in South Africa. Yet some Afrikaans filmmakers, Esterhuizen among them, choose to give local audiences comedies that are vulgar for vulgarity's sake alone, regardless of the stereotypes perpetuated for the sake of a cheap laugh. Why marginalise a minority in this way, showing them to be incapable of nearly everything, including sexual activity? Certainly, it seems as if many of the stereotypes and cliches are lifted from equally bad American teen comedies, but those seldom look as inept and on-the-fly as this film.
I got the following plot synopsis from the Nu Metro website:
HARDUS, is a third year computer sciences student who lives in Johannesburg with his divorcee mother, Madelet (played by Dorette Nel). Hardus has to find work for the varsity holiday to earn his keep, but at his age, he is more interested in losing his virginity than finding a job. "Madelet" rhymes with "slet", Afrikaans for "slut". I guess it's funny.
His best friend and comrade in arms, VAATJIE VISAGIE, played by Gerhard Odendaal, does little to help in the virginity stakes, but does provide an opportunity to work as a washer at Mr. De Vries's bakery. Mr. De Vries (played by actor Matt Stern) sends them on an errand that proves to be much more adventurous that any of them could have imagined. Here, Vaatjie (from "Vaatjies Sien Sy Gat") is an obesity-stereotype, while Matt Stern's De Vries is an effeminate annoyance.
PETRO, played by the stunning Angelique Pretorius, (a former FHM model of the year) impacts hugely on Hardus's life. He not only finds himself totally besotted with her but when they end up in bed together, Hardus's world, gets turned upside down. This is mainly because Petro's boyfriend, Harley Davidson biker OS, (played by macho man Asley Saunders), wants to break Hardus's neck for screwing his chick. The fact that she no longer happens to be his girl, does not deter OS from wanting to cause some grievous bodily harm to Hardus.
The film is a hilarious teen sex comedy [it is not "hilarious" unless you're OS's mental cohort], targeted specifically for the young Afrikaans movie going audience [they must think we're idiots]. It is contemporary and truthful version of life in post world cup South Africa [yes, if "contemporary" means "recently released" and "truthful" means "as rubbish as most other teen sexcoms"; I do not see the relevance of the SWC reference].
"Stoute Boudjies" makes for depressing viewing. Between the wisecracks and ass-cracks, the film demonstrates there is a place somewhere underneath the bottom of the barrel.
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