Plot: During the Boer war, three Australian officers are court martialed for executing Boer prisoners and a German pastor without proper trial. Despite becoming obvious during the trial that they were obeying orders from the highest command, the British military push a conviction in order to please the German government.
Comment: Critics have not been kind with director Bruce Beresford, and indeed his latest work seems quite dire, but after watching "Mister Johnson" and this film at least I can understand his prestige. The film basically plays as a courtroom drama (it's based on a play), withthe events that lead to the trial shown in flashbacks.
And it's pretty much great, despite Beresford not being able to do much once the ending becomes too obvious. During the trial scenes the performances and dialogue are wonderfully sharp, making the conspiracy to convict the officer obvious without being hamfisted, and the flashbacks depicting guerilla episodes are terrific. Want more? Edward Woodward delivers a great performance as Morant, and at one pint the trial is interrupted by a Boer attack that Beresford shots in such a deadpan manner that the action ends up showing some kind of abstract comicality.
The only thing I didn't like was Bryan Brown's acting as one of the Australian officers on trial. His über-macho act is entertaining enouh in other films ("Cocktail" or "Australia" come to mind here), but here it borders parody, and its no wonder that Beresford ends up using him as comic relief in a couple of scenes.