Rent Breaker Morant (1980)

The bloody reality of the Boer War c.1900 made devastatingly real - Breaker Morant review by Philip in Paradiso

The film is about the 1902 court martial of 3 officers under British command in the Second Anglo-Boer War: lieutenants Harry Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton. The 3 officers are accused of war crimes; they are Australians serving in the British Army. Morant, Handcock, and Witton stand accused of murdering captured Boer fighters and a German missionary in the Northern Transvaal. The facts of the case are presented in flashbacks. As a result, such scenes alternate with developments in the court martial, which follows, itself, the classical format of a court case.

A wide range of issues are touched upon in the movie. What is a war crime? What if officers were merely following orders? Could they avoid doing what they did? This may all sound dry and even academic, but the movie is constructed in such a way that it never feels that way at all. There are many striking battle scenes inserted in the narrative too.

Overall, this is a remarkably good film, which grips the viewer from beginning to end. It reconstitutes the context - Britain's imperial expansion across Southern Africa in the early 20th century - extremely well, and the characters feel very real and, in fact, very modern. I recommend this historical drama, which dwells on a dark page of British colonial history that is well-known in Australia, but not in Britain.

[I had problems with the DVD. I have informed Cinema Paradiso. It may have to do with the way it was recorded.]

A courtroom drama with shootouts - Breaker Morant review by HW

A film that gets a great story out of some unique history: the trial of Australian soldiers for war crimes during the Boer war of the early 20th century. Not only does the film offer some insight into such a little known conflict (when a world empire nearly met its match against a small guerilla army) but it boasts a gripping plot with gripping performances. Edward Woodward is captivating as the almost romantic but controversial figure of Lt Morant, a man driven to savage vengeance by the horrific death of his friend. Jack Thompson as his defence lawyer is even more electrifying, rivalling Keith Douglas for moral outrage at his fellow Australians being sentenced to deaths for crimes no worse than any other actions of the British empire against the Boers. The film is certainly not trying to say that the accused were innocent (although some justification is made for their actions) but rather that the extreme situations and stresses of war brings out the worst in men. The courtroom scenes are so passionate and tense, the thunderous shootouts interspersed throughout are not really needed (but welcome if you appreciate some good action). The ending may be one of the most emotional and best-shot conclusions not just in the war film genre but in film history. A jewel in the gritty greatness of Australian cinema. 

Kangaroo Court - Breaker Morant review by Steve

Polemical account of the real life military trial of three Australian soldiers for the murder of prisoners during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Edward Woodward plays Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a lieutenant born in the UK who enlisted in Adelaide after years of settlement. Bryan Brown is his larrikin comrade-in-arms with Lewis Fitz-Gerald as a younger, more naive recruit.

The standout- and central- performance is from Jack Thompson as the inexperienced lawyer who has to defend the accused against a stacked deck. Writer-director Bruce Beresford claims this is not intended to be about the duplicitous officer class selling out colonial oiks in order to facilitate their own objectives while preserving moral superiority. But that's exactly what it is!

This belongs in a subsection of the Aussie New Wave which creates an origins myth to encourage the drive to independence. This isn't objective truth, but it is an emotive condemnation of Empire and the privilege/hypocrisy of the ruling class. And who can't get behind that, wherever you're from? Beresford claims it's more about the validity of the Nuremberg defence...

Which is the mitigation they were just following orders. And that is also a theme. The action is opened up with skill from a stage play, with South Australia standing in  for the Veldt in the flashbacks. The Oscar nominated screenplay obviously channels Paths of Glory (1957); while this isn't quite in the same class, the history is compelling and it lands a big climactic haymaker.