Breaker Morant (1980)

Lessons from History

So, who says the movies are strictly an entertainment medium. Occasionally a burst of reality manages to sneak through. In Breaker Morant we're shown what most of us suspect anyway-- that in war, the demands of politics trump the demands of justice. Kubrick revealed the lesson in 1958's Paths of Glory, where it was the French high command sacrificing three hapless dogfaces to protect France's war effort or at least those charged with waging it. Here it's the fabled British Empire on which the sun never sets and whose responsibility never ceases. It's a heavy burden-- civilizing the rabble, known to Kipling and his acolytes as the White Man's Burden. But then, it's got to be the correct white men doing the civilizing and maybe helping themselves at the same time to whatever riches the land may offer. The South African Boers simply won't do. Look at them-- there're a scruffy lot and besides they're blood related to those other white men wanting to create an Empire, the Germans. Can't have all those subjugated black Africans responding to two civilizing saviors at the same time. One has to go.

Fine screenplay, a needed corrective to all those heroic "thin red line" celebrations that propagandized the Western world for decades. The trouble here is that the Boers fight dirty. They don't line up in disciplined squadrons and fight in a civilized manner. They're sort of like those rustic American colonists conducting guerilla raids when and where they can. Funny how motivated the rabble can be when they're fighting for their homes and way of life. But the British are a disciplined lot. They don't take their responsibilities lightly. Just watch the robotic precision with which they execute their deadly hierarchy. The foot stomping obeisances to authority and tradition are a matter of deep-down pride in Crown, God, and Empire.

However, the Aussies are only half British. They don't even stuff easily into the regimented coffins at movie's end. Here the three Aussie officers are no angels. They take their orders literally, and when the British high command says take no prisoners, they obey and shoot the hapless captives with no second thoughts. But then the Dutch Boers are no angels either, mutilating the unlucky British when they can. There's a message here, one that Americans in Iraq should take heed of. People defending their homes and way of life don't fight fair. They tend to get upset with foreign invaders telling them how to live. And, as the movie shows, don't expect the boys sent on the civilizing mission to come back the way they left. There's a price to pay for fighting in a dirty imperial war when it's not your home or livelihood you're defending. That's what's so unsettling to believers in the White Man's Burden about a screenplay like this. As Morant and especially the earnest attorney learn too late, such wars are not about justice or noble ideals. They're about power, raw imperial power, whether it's the South Africa of yesterday or the Iraq of today. And those mighty wheels of Empire are capable of running over anything and anybody who gets in the proverbial way. Here those wheels grind in a dramatically grievous manner, and one you're not likely to forget.


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June 8, 2008

Precision English Acting!

This movie ranks as one of my favorite movies of all time. Woodward's portrayal of Harry Morant is a masterpiece. It is all the more amazing in that it is based on a story hidden until long after the youngest of the officers involved died of natural causes. The movie showcases some fine talent in Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson as the defense attorney who shows up the British imperialist for what they are. This is an excellent movie worthy of anyone's collection.

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October 28, 2007

Realistic and marvellously directed

Although Britain's war against South African Boer farmers ended over a century ago, the issues raised in "Breaker Morant" seem as real as today's headlines: alleged prisoner abuse, a guerilla war that won't end, an occupying power versus a hostile population, and a search for scapegoats among the lower ranks. This film has it all: authentic scenery, disciplined soldiers produced from a long gone society, enemy combatants, court-martial proceedings and historical plot line which bring a little-known era of military history to life. Director Bruce Beresford did a splendid work picturing the court martial drama from so many angles and with so many really astonishing surprises. September 28, 2007

Breaker Morant

One of the high points in Australian cinema, Beresford's devastating film recounts the true story of Australian soldiers martyred for political expediency. Accurately depicting the injustice visited upon these three "colonials" by their British commanders, "Morant" is also a magnificent character study. Thompson is terrific as the lawyer who defends the men, but Woodward's resonant, heart-rending performance in the title role is reason enough to see this stunning film. July 6, 2007

Look no further for the finest war movie ever made

Brilliantly adapted from a true story, poignantly filmed and outstandingly produced and acted, "Breaker Morant" stands alone at the big heap of great war movies. It's all here, of course: battle scenes, commando ambushes, honor, valor, betrayal, executions and a real 'kangaroo court martial'. The accused's fates are sealed from the opening salvo, as we bear witness to another example of the vast British empire taking no prisoners of its own, leaving innocent soldiers of the Commonwealth hung out to dry to protect its own repugnant brand of morality. The viewer senses this early on, but is compelled to watch every frame of this magnificent film. It will move you as few other films will, on almost every level of human compassion, duty and truth. In a film in which every line counts, the best line, quite possibly, is spoken by Lieutenant Morant, "These days its quite easy to be on the wrong side". A masterpiece. March 2, 2007

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