Rating: 
Summary: Rule 303 indeed
Review: A very powerful film, which richly deserves the praise it has accumulated over the years.
Beresford certainly shone in this, one of this finest moments, and the cast, especially Woodward, Brown and Thompson were just superb.
I read the Kit Denton book Case Closed many years ago, and the movie appears to be partly based on that. Information seems to have come to light after the event, such as Kitchener's diaries confirming the order to shoot 'enemies' wearing British uniforms in any form, and the evaluation of Morant's 'psychotic' character by some of his fellow troopers. However, it doen't really change the central issue of putting soldiers on trial for political reasons, while the gin-swilling politicians continue to mess things up from thousands of miles away.
The British made such a hash of the Boer War(s) that it is no surprise that two thirds of their war dead died from disease rather than enemy action. Likewise the thousands of Boer women and children who died in the British concentration camps (the Brits invented them to 'concentrate' the prisoners into a manageable environment) only died due to administrative incompetence, not through any attempt to harm them.
It was against this background that an Aussie BVC patrol were put on trial for summarily executing Boer prisoners, whom some claim were coming in to surrender. Yet there is so much that we can never really know in this case, as so much of what was believed to be evidence has been contradicted, such as whether one of the Boers had really been wearing a dead British officer's (Morant's friend) army pants.
Was Morant a 'killer'? If he was, then so was Kitchener. Perhaps the main difference was that some people kill with a stroke of a pen and others with a 303 rifle.
As with the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, there has to be accountability in war. No question. But it is also inappropriate to place a bunch of young men in harm's way, in an asymmetrical warfare situation, and expect them to be immune to provocation and imminent physical danger, and to react calmly and rationally in every case.
It clearly was a politically-motivated show trial and the men should never have been executed, even if a trial had actually been warranted. I'm not anti-British, I grew up in the UK, I'm just anti British stupidity.
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: How 'bout the music?
Review: After scanning every one of these reviews I can't believe nobody has mentioned the musical score. Besides being a great film, the music is haunting and one of those tunes you will find yourself humming for the next week or two.
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: Highly recommended
Review: Along with Kubrick's Paths of Glory, this film ranks tops among its genre. During the Boer wars in Austrailia, Morant and his associates are prisoners to be executed for something stupid. While in custody, the Boers attack and Morant and his men are given rifles and fight valiently to stave off the attack. What does this act of bravery earn them! The answer is a big resounding nothing. Like the previously mentioned movie, it shows you how egos in the military get in the way of justice! Great acting and directing along with a story that is compelling to the last scene!
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: Compelling historical drama
Review: Harry `Breaker` Morant, was an immigrant Australian who served in the Boer war (1900-1903), where Dutch/German Boers wanted independence from England. This was intolerable to the British Empire at the time and Lord Kitchener despatched the army to put down this `revolt'. Empire troops were drafted in to help, among them Australians from the new nation. The Boers were waging early guerrilla-style warfare, picking off English troops before melting away and Britain was steadily losing the war. Lord Kitchener decided to engage troops of the Australian `Bushveldt Carbineers', among them Harry `Breaker' Morant, his superior officer and future brother in law Captain Hunt, as well as fellow soldiers Handcock and Witton to adopt the same guerrilla tactics. Although they (somewhat conveniently) received no written orders, it was `made patently clear' they were to take no prisoners, and to shoot anyone wearing stolen British uniform. After their well-liked Captain hunt was captured after an ambush and his body later found horribly mutilated, Morant and others found the perpetrators and vowing vengeance, carried out their orders. Several of the Boer soldiers were subsequently executed along with a collaborating German missionary. With Germany possibly about to enter the war, Britain needed heads on a plate and three `expendable colonials' were found who fitted the bill. The compelling courtroom drama shows how the defendants (innocent or otherwise) were manoeuvred towards a guilty verdict for political expediency and are mere pawns in a far greater drama. In an age where failure to obey any orders, written or otherwise, in the British army was mutiny punishable by firing squad, our three defendants are damned if they do carry out orders and damned if they don't. A compelling look at the often blurry nature of war, it's hardening effect on human attitudes and how power sometimes corrupts justice. Whether guilty or not, these men still deserved a fair trial and this powerful film conveys that well.
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