Rating: 
Summary: "Breaker" Morant, Outstanding Examplar of "Australian" Wave
Review: I remember seeing this riveting film with my father in Westbury, LI, roughly after the period (due to shifting economics) cinemas became duplex. True, "Breaker Morant" is a smaller-scale film in one sense, but it is much greater than many of "epic" dimensions. The performances are uniformly (no pun intended) outstanding, Mr. Beresford's direction so skillfull it is arguably the finest filmed adaptation of a stage play I've ever seen. (In fact, in my first lapse of critical acuity, I didn't discover this until long afterwards!)The films begins as a fact-based courtroom drama yet ends with a truly rare, poignant (not mawkish) poeticism. The script is fully realized: for example, it shows the title character as a refined, cultured man of the world. Late in the story, when in prison and offered the opportunity to escape, a visitor says: "You can see the world." So powerful is the portrayal of Morant, his devastatingly simple reply was interpreted prima facie by my accursed literal mind! (Hence, my second, and more serious critical lapse.) Australia should be proud of this contribution to world cinema, for it is a great, rara avis: a memorable film.
Rating: 
Summary: A very anti-Christian movie
Review: On the surface, Breaker Morant is a simple story of soldiers in the field being asked to operate under impossible moral constraints. They end up being sacrificied on the altar of political expediency.
But director Bruce Beresford does a masterful of job of hiding his anti-christianity in plain sight. For example, he has the chaplain recite a verse that goes something like, "God, you accomplish thy will by war as well as by peace". The impression Beresford leaves is that God makes war for its own sake.
Second, his portrayal of the incident involving the missionary leaves little doubt in the viewer's mind that the missionary had it coming to him. Say what you want about civilians who cross the line in a guerilla war, fair enough. But I find it very disturbing that the director chose a Christian missionary, when he could have chosen anything else on earth, as a character who deserves to be murdered.
Last but not least is Morant's rejection of God again symbolized by the chaplain, just prior to his death. I find this attitude to be incomprehensible. Are Morant and Handcock's deaths unjust, absolutely.
But is it God's fault that men are unjust? Bruce Beresford seems to think so. Unfortunately, he forgets that God gave us the Ten Commandments to follow or not to follow as we choose. That's why we call it "free will", Bruce.
And a pagan is not someone who doesn't believe there's a divine being dispensing justice throughout the world. A pagan is someone who believes that the divine being doesn't care whether or not there is justice throughout the world.
I will say that the film is very powerful, especially the scenes were Morant takes his vengeance on his Boer captives. But overall I must say that I found "Breaker Morant" and it's underlying message to be more upsetting and disturbing than moving.
Rating: 
Summary: "And a man's foes shall be thay of his own household....."
Review: Skillful director Brian Beresford, a brilliant ensemble of Australian actors, and the very talented English actor, Edward Woodward, came together in South Australia in 1979 to shoot one of Australia's finest films...a war time courtroom drama that excels in acting, narrative, script and cinematography. Released at a time when the Australian film industry was on the verge of a world wide surge of interest with many other fine films (Mad Max 1979, Gallipoli 1981 etc.)...."Breaker Morant" set a benchmark for quality drama. In the midst of the Boer War, three members of the Bushveldt Carboniers...Harry Morant, Peter Handcock & George Witton stand accused of the murder of Boer prisoners and a German missionary. The men become the subject of a British court martial and it soon becomes clearly evident that they are mere pawns in a far greater diplomatic agenda between warring nations. The film closely tackles the issues of trialling soldiers for murder in times of war...and the differing interpretations of the orders recieved from senior officers. Jack Thompson is outstanding as defence attorney, Major J.F. Thomas, attempting to save the lives of the trio. A youthful Bryan Brown is very memorable as the wild, simple larrikan, Peter Handcock...and Edward Woodward, in a moving and remarkable performance plays the role of the horse breaker-cum-soldier, Harry Hardboard Morant. Add a wonderful support cast including noted Australian actors Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Alan Cassell, John Waters and Chris Haywood...and it's easy to see why this film garnished several key AFI awards upon it's release, and remains so highly regarded amongst critics and fans alike. An intelligent, moving and thought provoking film "Breaker Morant" will be savoured by those who enjoy intense, challenging historical drama's. Highly Recommended !!
Rating:
Summary: Scapegoats of War: Is Patriotic Always Political?
Review: This film addresses (and won the Australian "Oscar" for best film over 20 years ago) a vexing, eternal question in the history of humankind and human conflict. Military discipline is invoked to control what would otherwise become a savage horde. Men (and now women) are taught to kill in the name of some identity (national, religious, subversive, for example). When to the combatants go "too far" in engaging their minds to the task before them? Protecting their own, perhaps putting the enemy at some risk (psychological or physical) doing so? Saving lives. Is war never acceptable as a form of handling conflict, and what should be the consequences of going "out of bounds?" Where is the rulebook? Who does it apply to? This question is as fresh today as at the near-end of the Boer War, a hundred years ago and on the other side of the world, but not further from the questions it raises than nightly news reports on NBC, CBS, ABC, and other media that "report." I chance upon this film during a late night (or should I say early morning) showing about five years after its release, and have considered it one of my top ten films of all time. It is engaging, the script is excellent, the portrayals of these actual soldiers and their superiors (including Lord Kitchener) during what no one knew then were the waning days of the British Empire, the soundtrack, all would be worthy of "Oscar" nominations even in the Politically Correct climate today. We see south African blacks treated as nonexistent, the pride of "colonials" as part of the Empire, the arrogance of "true Britons"--all with counterparts in every conflict. A highly political "court martial" is held for three Australians serving in the Bushveldt Carbineers--a unit using recently developed "commando" techniques. It is a new word applied to war, and something quite different from the Napoleonic tactics seen not only at the entrance of the 19th century, but repeated again and again in armed conflicts throughout. These three men applied their intelligence and their compassion (for the death of their commanding officer) to the reduction of casualties, and psychological (propaganda) techniques aimed at the Boers, Dutch colonials living in South Africa. It was a highly political occurence...after all, the Kaiser (Emperor) of Germany, recently united and no doubt ready to enter a "real" conflict, was the late Queen Victoria's grandson!!! If three Australian "colonials" were to be sacrificed in that pursuit, what of it? With stiff upper lips (camouflaged with mustaches for the most part), we see this tragedy laid out in the most "civilized manner" possible.
You will have strong feelings for and about the men involved. The United States of America appears to be the last land-occupying miltary superpower (does the sun set on the "American Empire"?). Given the paradoxes and tactical problems encountered in dozens of "humanitarian" and "military" conflicts following the first Gulf War, the lessons of "Breaker Morant" are no less compelling than in any other time in the history of warfare. In fact, this drama makes draws one to surmise that many "military tribunal" concoctions--in legal language, "off point." Thankfully, the DVD edition of this classic is crisp, compelling, and produced to the highest standards. I recommend purchasing it--you will watch it more than once!
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Films Ever Made. Period.
Review: This is quite simply one of the best films I have seen. Every person I have recommended this film to has said the same, and every person who has asked me what are the best films I have seen ( I am a true student and fan of film )- I immediately answer "Breaker Morant" either first or second. It brings the British Empire to it`s knees, at least ethically. Interestingly, some scholars have done research in the last decade or so and think that Morant was a cold-blooded killer ( doubtful, I think ). Director Beresford himself, when presented with this evidence said the same. As far as this film is concerned- this "evidence" doesn`t detract from the greatness of " Breaker Morant" at all.(...)
Rating:
Summary: Rule 303
Review: This is the movie that forced me to be a
movie person whether I liked it or not.
We in the West, in the post - Magna Carta
open society, will hire enforcers to preserve
our crushing supremacy over all other systems.
Expeditionary war is often dirty and cruel and a
killer of our own aspirations for justice.
This war movie / court drama / cultural
feast will leave you thinking about how
much of the dirty work 'we' are prepared to
authorize. "....In war, it is customary to
kill as many of the enemy as possible." (Says
a main character with only slight irony.)
After 20+ (?) years, a must own....
... if you have the guts for questions with
few easy answers.
Rating:
Summary: Profoundly thought provoking
Review: This superbly written, directed and acted movie ranks, in my opinion, with All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory as a critique of the morality of war. Like them, it casts a jaundiced eye on the dishonesty and cynicism of governments, in this case, the duplicitous scapegoating by the British imperial high command against these unwitting Australian colonial soldiers, aided and abetted by the after the fact complicity of their own government (in this regard, I would question what others on this site have said about this movie dealing with the soldier's accountability for following orders that are immoral, inasmuch as their superiors sought to deny that such orders existed in the first place)
However, I believe that this movie transmits a deeper message that the brutality of war inevitably has a brutalizing effect on the souls of those who participate in it even if they are fundamentally decent, honorable human beings, in this case, the protagonist, Breaker Morant, who, though he intially distained to follow the unwritten policy of executing prisoners who were Boer combatants (and perhaps those that aided them as well, such as the German clergyman in this film), was finally moved to an about face in this regard after the trauma of seeing that his best friend and the brother of his fiance had been killed and viciously mutilated by the Boer commandos. Like Oliver Stone's Platoon, this movie displays a post Vietnam, post My Lai sensibility in this respect, but goes deeper in that it does not seek to divide people into good and bad, humane and brutal, as Stone did with the two sergeants, for what is conveyed here is that no one is immune from the corrosion and degradation that the fear and violence of deadly combat inflicts upon the mind and soul.
Strongly recommended!
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