Boetie gaan Border toe (Afrikaans)

This movie is sort of South Africa's answer to 'Stripes' crossed with 'Ballad of the Green Berets', 'Mister Roberts', and 'The Odd Angry Shot'. It has three main characters. Boetie ("Sonny") van Tonder (played by Arnold Vosloo), the spoiled stepson of a rich South African politician, is an aimless playboy majoring in astronomy at university. His stepfather needs to win an upcoming close bi-election, so he bribes Boetie to join the Defense Force. "Dampies" Ball (played by Frank Dankert) is a poor lower-class mechanic with a pregnant wife. He has dodged the draft before and has finally been caught. Both are reluctant to serve and just want to get it over with. Corporal Botes (played by Eric Nobbs), who the pair meet at the front gate of the base, is in charge of training these apathetic recruits. He prefers to speak in Afrikaans rather than English and is a brutal martinet. As a contrast, the Commandant of the post and the other NCOs are shown as being more sympathetic and paternalistic.To spite the corporal, the men feign ignorance and deliberately screw up. After the corporal follows the Commandant's advice to treat his men better and speak in English, the platoon improves and follows his orders. As a reward, the men are allowed to graduate and Corporal Botes is assigned a combat command.The rest of the movie details their service in Namibia during the Border Wars (1966-88). Corporal Botes leads the green recruits in combat against an unseen enemy. In the climax Boetie leads a counter-attack against the enemy and recovers the wounded Corporal, who begrudgingly has come to respect Boetie. In the end, Boetie has matured into a leader because of his service and becomes a better person for it.