Breaker Morant (Masterworks Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Right or wrong?
Review: 60 years before its involvement in Vietnam, Australia's soldiers were at the forefront of issues about mistreating and shooting prisoners. The question at the centre of Beresford's film is the old Nuremburg war crimes trial excuse: what if the atrocity you perpetrated was ordered by your superiors - is it defensible?

Much more than a film that questions obeying orders that require you to commit atrocities, this movie also examines the relationship between Australia, a newly independent nation at the turn of the century, and Britain. Australian troops, recruited from what were then British colonies, went to fight a British war against Boer farmers in South Africa. The courtroom saga of Breaker Morant centres around the animosity between the Australians and their British commanders.

Clearly, Beresford is suggesting that the Australians were duped by the British to commit war crimes, only to fall victim to diplomatic moves between the British and the pro-Boer Germans at the war's end.

Once again, this is a fine period drama that is one of the great achievements of Australian cinema's new wave of the 1970s. Beautifully shot and brilliantly acted, watch out for a young Bryan Brown and excellent performances by Jack Thompson and Lewis FitzGerald as well as a standout portrayal of The Breaker by Edward Woodward.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best Australian films every made
Review: A subtle masterwork by Australian film maker Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy), BREAKER MORANT tells the true story (with some historical liberties) of three Australian soldiers put on trial for shooting prisoners during the Boer War in South Africa. The trial revolves around Cpt. Harry Morant (Edward Woodward in a fantastic performance), a soldier and poet who claimed his shooting of Boer prisoners was done under orders from above. It is both a court room drama and a story of the role of ethics in war. Told through the trial with flash backs to the past, Beresford never looses sight of the very human story he is telling. BREAKER MORANT is a jewel of a movie.

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: "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: 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!