Khaki Fever – Wilder than the wild

The story follows a group of game rangers who, for a certain reason (without all of them knowing it), compete with one another to see who can “bag” (or chalet?) the most tourists during the season, and in the process take the wilderness by the horns – with hilarious results. It’s important to note, however, that no sex scenes are explicit in any way.

The dialogue is sharp, the humor quick, and the comparisons (I’m thinking of “prime sows and stud bulls”), innuendos, and wordplay are original and proudly Afrikaans.

The actors all contribute equally to the success and enjoyment of the film, which, beneath all the rangers’ “itchiness” with their shorts shorter than their leg hair, actually has a lot of heart. So, a strong, balanced cast (under the guidance of Christa Schamberger), which is so often one of the weakest elements of an Afrikaans film for me – especially when it comes to supporting roles.

Albie (played by Francois Jacobs) delivers some of the best one-liners, shooting across the screen like this year’s Perseid meteor shower at 72 km per second!

My only criticism is some of the songs on the soundtrack – while they were probably suited to the theme, it was really the only place where the constant swearing even got to me, and I felt it tipped into bad taste.

Overall, the film is not for the “faint of heart,” the prudish, the conservatives, or even the would-be nuns among us – unless you’re prepared to go in full disguise to hide your blushing, or dig a hole and stick your head in it like an ostrich. But luckily, we live in a world where you don’t have to watch it – just grab your remote and change the channel.

As we know, and according to Innes himself, he usually makes work that “offers serious social commentary, but these days people have little capacity for heavy themes.” A recent Ster Kinekor study by Nicolette Scheepers confirms this: “many local films aren’t made with a commercial mindset but tend to tackle issues rather than offer escapism.” And I wholeheartedly agree. Khaki Fever shows its “meat” – and will surprise the average viewer, make them laugh out loud, and entertain them thoroughly.