Lipstiek Dipstiek

To appreciate this film you have to understand the context in which it was presented. Esterhuizen, the writer and director, was responsible for one of the most successful apartheid-era South African sitcoms called Orkney Snork Nie (Orkney does not snore). In this time, media was highly censored. All profanity, even borderline bad words, were bleeped out. Discussions about sex, abortion, racism or criticism of the church or state were absolutely taboo. This is where Esterhuizen worked magic in his sitcom. He used suggestive lines and well timed bleeps to create a family friendly sitcom which broached these topics in a way even conservative Afrikaners could enjoy.

This film, on the other hand, was released in the year South Africa became a democracy (with the associated freedom of speech and expression). For the first time, Esterhuizen could blatantly break every taboo of South African film and he did. With this in mind, the film is very entertaining and delivered comical scenes and lines which became part of Afrikaner popular culture. Naturally the blatantness of the film did not play well with conservative Afrikaners at the time, but 20 years later I can still watch and enjoy it, despite being a bit over the top.

Lipstiek Dipstiek is not the worse movie ever made. It's just a pity that the entire (recent) South African film industry is content with producing films like this. Willie Esterhuizen (director) is no idiot. He's been responsible for the best sitcom SA television has ever seen (Orkney Snork Nie) - and in recent years he's written a load of garbage as well - but in this film he never really manages to exploit the stereotypes that make this comedy successful.

This is symptomatic of the whole SA film scene - comedy is simply made as entertainment for the masses; losing sight of the fact that comedy can have just as much (if not more) social comment, and indeed responsibility, as drama.

It's not a bad idea to watch this film though. It's highly entertaining, and a few exceptional performances can be seen. Esterhuizen understands comedy - the pace is right up there with the best.

Its just sad that the film didn't go all the way.