Breaker' Morant (1980)

[Neville]

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.

[The Burgomaster]

I enjoyed this movie very much and saw it a few times back in the 1980s.  I haven't seen it in a long time, so maybe it's time for a repeat viewing.

[Trevor]

I always see this film as the greatest film that South Africa never made ~ Bruce Beresford and producer Matt Carroll wanted to make the film here in SA but were allegedly told to take a hike by local film producers. I still don't know why as it would have done wonders for SA as a film location.

Incidentally, the book The Breaker states that Morant and Handcock were shot by firing squad in Pietersburg. Not so, they were shot in Pretoria at the old jail, which is now a museum.

www.nfi.org.za

[Neville]

You know, I ended up looking the filming locations up at the IMDB. The exteriors looked nothing short of fantastic, but I kept repeating myself that they looked a bit too green for South Africa.