Customer Reviews

Breaker Morant

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Based on a real life incident of Australian soldiers charged with murder --
for political reasons-- during the Boer war.

Echoes of Kubrick's "Paths of Glory", but the morality here is more grey. These men have indeed
done awful things, but only as part of a war full of awful things. Thus, while your heart is with the
protagonists, there are moments you question them almost as much as the Kangaroo court they
face.

The acting is excellent throughout, and what was originally a play has been opened up just enough
so as not to feel stagey, without feeling forced.

Some of the moral complexities could have been explored with more depth, and there is a slightly
disturbing suggestion of making "I was just following orders" a viable defense for war atrocities,
but I'd much rather question an intelligent, challenging picture"s point of view, then not be
challenged at all.

This is a film about a trial of three Australians who were accussed of shooting Boer prisoners and also the murder of a minister. The trial is interspersed with flashback scenes of the actual conflict.
In short the Boers after some initial successes were defeated by the more numerous British forces. They however did not accept defeat and mounted groups of Boer farmers continued to fight a guerilla war.

The Boer war was notable for a number of things one being the invention of concentration camps. The British locked up the wives and children of the Boers so that they could not be supplied while carrying out raids. Some 20,000 women and children are said to have died in the camps.

This film centres on some Australian troops who followed orders to shoot captured Boer commandoes. One of them Breaker Morant was a noted poet of the time who in Australia had contributed to the Bullutein Magazine for some time. He volunteered with an Australian unit to fight in the war.

The film is largely about the hypcrosy of the British High Command who were willing to order the killing of prisoners and then to deny it when their actions in South Africa were causing a stink. Some territorials were put on trial to play the role of sacraficial victims.

The problem with most Australian films is that they have poor scripts. Great photography and composition is no substitute for a tight script. The virtue of this film is that it is one of the best scripted Australian films released. It is also noteworthy as a film which is critcal of the Imperial tradition. The cast is very good with Edward Woodwood, Brian Brown and Jack Thompson. One of the better Australian films made.

A fact based movie, taken from the book, "Scapegoats of the Empire": I consider it a "classic". Set in South Africa during the Boer War, early in the 1900's, it is a mixture of courtroom drama and guerrilla warfare waged on the African veld. But for the politics of peace, Morant would have been hailed a hero, instead he and several of his men are sacrificed to allow a negotiated peace with the Boers. The trail and execution were a disgrace to the British Army and Goverment, but I suppose it wouldn't surprise many of us toady.

I assumed that a DVD purchased on Amazon.ca would work in Canada on North American standard equipment. Unfortunately this did not. This was unfortunate as I recall the movie from years ago and was very keen to see it again. Very disappointing.

This is a very good movie about a tragic episode in the Boer War. The script, locations, acting and portrayal of the characters is first class and entirely believable, striking as it certainly does, a balance between the imperious pomposity of the upper ranks of the British Army and the no nonsense Australian "Colonial Volunteers" sent in to do the dirty work of killing, only to be abandoned by their superiors when it became politically expedient to do so.
That the movie is factual makes the inevitable ending so tragic.
"Scapegoat of the Empire" is taking from the book written by the youngest of the three accused whose Death sentence was graciously commuted to Life Imprisonment by Royal decree.

This product was advertised as a DVD and in fact is a PAL formatted disc and can't be played on North american machines.

What a wonderfully made movie. A great period piece. Spectacular performances through out make you feel like you are right there in the middle of the action. This movie makes you think that killing might be justified and then maybe not? Once again the Stuffy British attitude during this period is brought to task and exposed as the reason for many deaths and injustices. Ultimately a stimulating ride well worth the 2 hours. Bryan Brown and Edward Woodward were born for these roles. This movie helped launch almost everyone involved into even bigger productions.

I could not get this DVD to play in any of my home machines. "Uncompatible" or "unreadable" is all I could get.
When I tried on a very old DVD player I was able to play the movie but the quality really sucked.

This movie by Australian director Bruce Beresford is brilliant. It's based on a real incident which occurred during the Boer War in South Africa.

The plot revolves around a group of British and Australian officers serving in a highly mobile anti-guerrilla cavalry unit, called the Bushveldt Carbineers. After the Carbineers are ambushed by a force of Boers, who capture, kill and mutilate the Carbineers' commanding officer, the unit captures some Boers and find some of them wearing British uniform tunics taken from dead Carbineers. Because the Boer prisoners are wearing items of British uniform, the officer in charge, the Breaker Morant of the title, orders the summary field execution of the Boer prisoners.

Morant and two other officers subsequently face a court martial on charges of murder. The film presents them as scapegoats who believed they were acting under orders to take no Boer prisoners but who are sacrificed to political expediency by a British High Command, under Lord Kitchener, which wants to mollify German and Dutch public opinion, which unequivocally supports the Boers.

This movie raises issues which are still relevant today.

Great movie - highly recommended.

One point about the Amazon headers though. The headers don't mention the lead actors, Edward Woodward and Brian Brown. Instead they list some supporting actors. That's very confusing.
I had to look at the graphic image of the DVD cover to see the names Edward Woodward and Brian Brown and confirm to myself that this was the Breaker Morant movie from the early 1980s and not a remake. Amazon staff, you might want to correct that problem.

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.