Breaker Morant (1980)

[Trevor]

I lectured yesterday and screened part of this Australian classic film - a South African story of the Anglo Boer War and one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice ever. A good film: the gallows humor towards the end is very funny, especially Bryan Brown as Peter Handcock - the rough Aussie soldier whose poetry extends to the following:

There once was a man from Australia
Who painted his arse like a dahlia
The color was fine
Likewise the design
But the aroma: Ooh, that was a failure! 



L-R: Lewis Fitzgerald, Bryan Brown, Edward Woodward OBE and Jack Thompson.

[Newt]

I saw it in the theatre.  A good film indeed.  One of a scant handful that affected me beyond expectation.

[Trevor]

I saw it in the theatre.  A good film indeed.  One of a scant handful that affected me beyond expectation.

Agreed: none of the students I screened it for yesterday had seen it before.

Morant's line of "Shoot straight, you bastards, don't make a mess of it!" caused them to laugh and then when Morant and Handcock were shot dead, there was a audible collective gasp.

[javakoala]

I saw it in the theatre.  A good film indeed.  One of a scant handful that affected me beyond expectation.

Agreed: none of the students I screened it for yesterday had seen it before.

Morant's line of "Shoot straight, you bastards, don't make a mess of it!" caused them to laugh and then when Morant and Handcock were shot dead, there was a audible collective gasp.

Yeah, I remember watching this. During the whole execution scene, I kept thinking, "They really aren't going to shoot them, are they?" Hell, I started crying before the guns went off.

[Trevor]

The other odd thing is that both Morant and Handcock are buried in the same grave in a cemetery in Pretoria: that isn't odd, but they're buried in the public section of the cemetery and not in the military section.  



I worked on a documentary about two years ago in which the families of Morant and Handcock are attempting to clear their names.

[Archivist]

Yep, classic Australian movie, and often shown in schools.  I seem to recall studying the play for English some decades ago.  Perhaps the most poignant part of the end was not the spoken line just before being shot, but that they held hands as they walked to the firing squad.

I'll add this one to the list of films I will watch again.

[Trevor]

Perhaps the most poignant part of the end was not the spoken line just before being shot, but that they held hands as they walked to the firing squad.

Agreed: in the South African film history context, this film is known as the greatest South African story not made here: I believe that Bruce Beresford and the producer Matt Carroll came here on a location scout and couldn't find local backers. 

[Neville]

Watched this one a few years ago, it must rank among Bruce Beresford's better efforts. My favourite bit was when the main cast is forced to dsefend their prison against the boers and one of them says at the end: "Well, that broke the monotony" or something similar.