Adam — a raw exploration of masculinity, race and resilience

Daily Maverick

a day ago

Adam challenges traditional ideas of manhood through the story of a young man navigating the harsh realities of a strict farm school in South Africa. Drawing from personal experiences and social influences, directors Liyema Speelman and Winford Collings craft a powerful narrative about identity, belonging and breaking free from outdated norms.
Liyema Speelman, co-director of the powerful new drama Adam, challenges traditional binaries through the story of a young man confronting the weight of patriarchy and finding healing in its aftermath.
More than just a coming-of-age story, Adam offers a raw look at the emotional armour young men are expected to wear, to hide any sort of vulnerability. Fresh out of high school, Adam is trying to define his identity while learning to survive the harsh realities of a rigid farm school. Resilience, he discovers, isn't a choice; it's a lifeline.
Directed by Speelman and Winford Collings, the film is part of Showmax's first-time directors slate in partnership with the Joburg Film Festival.
The duo began working on Adam in 2023. After its premiere on 4 May, Speelman spoke to Daily Maverick about the inspirations and personal reflections that shaped the film.
Adam, played by Marko Voster, is a hot-headed teenager questioning the next steps for his future after finishing high school. Without any warning, Adam is sent to a technical farm school to give him a new sense of direction. As he gets used to his new environment, Adam is forced to leave his 'old identity' behind and 'toughen up'.
From the moment Adam arrives at the farm school it's clear that discipline – and abuse – reigns supreme. The institution, founded by the late father of its authoritarian headmaster (played by Dirk Stoltz), is steeped in legacy. But that legacy casts a long shadow that pushes the headmaster into an obsessive drive to live up to his father's image, ultimately leading him towards unravelling.
Adam becomes a target of the built-up rage that the headmaster carries. While his schoolmates try to stay out of harm, Adam suffers, often in isolation, and is fearful to speak up.
The brutal abuse he endures forces him to confront and redefine what strength and manhood truly mean.
Why is this film relevant today?
Adam is reminiscent of the popular South African original film, Moffie, directed by Oliver Hermanus, which came out in 2021. Both films explore initiation through the lens of military training, often portrayed as a rite of passage meant to transform boys into men.
Adam draws inspiration from the personal experiences of both directors. Speelman reflects on his time growing up in an all-boys school in Port Elizabeth, which he attended from Grade 1. He recalls how slurs and name-calling, often with references to cult cartoon South Park, were a normalised part of daily life.
'If [these] are the only things that you have known, it becomes an afterthought,' he says, 'but soon this afterthought makes you realise that the 'normality' there is slightly incorrect.
'It takes us as filmmakers to kind of mirror [those experiences] and simply create a new path or give new suggestions as to what people should be doing nowadays.'
Andrew Tate and the influence of the manosphere
Even today, boys and men are often taught, whether subtly or forcefully, that showing emotion is a weakness.
At the farm school, Adam's lack of athleticism sets him apart, and he's punished for it. Beyond the film, social media adds to the pressure, with hyper-masculine influencers pushing harmful ideals onto young and often vulnerable minds. Adam challenges this mindset, offering raw, emotional moments that reveal there's real strength in vulnerability.
The directors were also inspired by the 1985 film Come and See, directed by Elem Klimlov. The film explores the heavy burden placed on young men sent to the army, expected to carry the weight of saving their country. Adam is their creative way of engaging with and imagining life within that world.
Speelman explains that Come and See 'looks at the idea of boys going to war and being excited about the idea of becoming men and then being utterly terrorised, disenchanted and disillusioned by that idea of masculinity.
More recently, in March 2025, Adolescence, the Netflix original series, sparked much-needed conversations around hyper-masculinity and male rage.
Speaking to Speelman about the series, he points to Andrew Tate, one of the most infamous influencers known for promoting misogynistic content. 'Andrew Tate has become this beacon of fiery strong men, but it's a false archetype, a false god.
'With the rise of Andrew Tate, there's this anger that's fostered within a lot of young men because there's an element where a lot of their identity was grounded on this old idea of what a man is.
'The man essentially is the ketch of the household, he's the breadwinner but when a lot of those ideas are challenged, where now you're not the breadwinner and you feel like you're not needed, you feel left out and I think that's where there's this growing rage that I've been watching is simmering.'
Talking about race
Race is a subtle but important theme in the film, reflecting the directors' perspectives as men of colour.
Through characters like Liam and Davey, the film highlights the experience of a boy of colour in a mostly white farm school. Although Adam isn't a man of colour, his close relationship with Liam, built on shared struggles with harsh punishments, allows the story to explore how race intersects with power and belonging.
Dillon Windvogel as Liam.
Speelman explains that 'the racial bodies in the film become that bridge within South African society of creating a friendship. But also [help us] truly understand one another to essentially move forward as one union.'
Adam may not have visual components as strong as those in Adolescence and Moffie, but its stripped-down aesthetic is a memorable component of the film.
It also taps into a deeper sense of stillness, which Speelman says was intentional. His reasoning behind some inert moments in the film is that 'a lot of emotions, especially through cinema, sometimes are rushed through. I think the type of cinema that I gravitate towards is very arthouse. Within that arthouse, you have to sit within the uncomfortability, and that is where the lessons stick a lot more.'
Cinematographer Gray Kotze creates an intimate relationship between the viewer and the characters, and with an eye for documentary, he was able to immerse the viewers in Adam's world. DM