Breaker Morant [VHS]

Utterly convincing performance from Edward Woodward as the vengeful Australian soldier Lieutenant Harry Morant in this gripping and tragic film based on real events during the Boer War (from the book 'Scapegoats of the Empire'). With the British Empire losing its bitter fight with the Boer guerillas, Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers have to adopt the same ruthless mobile tactics. When Morant's commanding officer is captured and mutilated by the Boers, he carries out a reprisal attack and summarily executes the prisoners. The story unfolds through flashback as Morant and two co-accused face court marshall, but it soon becomes clear that they are merely scapegoats as Britain and Germany horse trade over the fate of their African colonies. Jack Thompson gives an award-winning portrayal of the dogged Aussie defence lawyer. In the gripping courtroom scenes, Thompson embodies moral outrage at British military hypocrisy. But although Morant's defence is that his troops had always been following unwritten orders to take no prisoners, the film doesn't gloss over the 'innocent' men's culpability for carrying out cold-blooded executions under 'Rule .303'. Scenes in the veldt are breathtakingly photographed, and the courtroom exchanges crackle with anger. But it's the searching relationship between Thompson and his client that give this film a moral complexity that avoids mere anti-imperialist platitudes. The film makes palpable the contempt of the British commanders' for their colonial inferiors and the cynicism towards the rank and file that would soon be re-enacted on a colossal scale in the killing fields of Flanders.

This is a classic film, even though it has a tinge of anti Britishness about it. I like Australians, but they do have a chip that weighs heavy on their objectiveness. The British hierarchy was as overbearing on the British working class as it were to its colonials. We're not all from St John's Wood! Having said that it is great film, with great performances from Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown and Jack Thompson.

There are so many positive facets to this film it's difficult to know where to begin. The historical basis of this film, if modified for screen presentation, is incontestable. The Breaker was an Englishman who emigrated to Australia. He was a known, if not celebrated, poet as well as a horse breaker. Like Peter Handcock, Harry Morant went into the army as much for a square meal as for any patriotic motives. The Boer War was distant and dubious for any meaningful values.

Edward Woodward, sheathed in a corset for this film, is a dubious figure as a horse breaker, but displays a superb vehemence in his desire for vengeance for the mutilation of his friend. He recites The Breaker's poetry with sincere feeling and his final lines were delivered with the strength Morant displayed throughout his life. Morant's throwaway line to George Witton as the latter's being led off to prison that the trio were 'scapegoats of empire' became the title of Witton's account of the episode. Bryan Brown's portrayal of Handcock is almost certainly speculative, but he carries off the attitude of a loyal subordinate with style. The Bushveldt Carbiniers were a novel organization [the British introduced the concentration camp in South Africa as well as this irregular cavalry force], and Brown conveys the insecurity this force must have felt in operating in hostile territory.

It is Jack Thompson who deserves the highest accolades for a performance in this movie. How this country solicitor really performed in the courtroom is immaterial [although Witton's book gives Thomas' full praise for his efforts to clear the officers]. Thompson renders superbly the role of a man striving for justice against a clearly stacked deck.

This film may be about the Boer War, but that's wholly immaterial - it's a universal issue. Massive organizational power rendered against hapless individuals covers all levels of life, from military to corporate. Breaker Morant offers a multitude of lessons for anyone questing for justice. The Breaker's fate was a setback in that quest, but his story, superbly told to a world more willing to investigate such incidents for truth. Please view this film, have a think, then buy it and pass it to a friend. Then do the same with GALLIPOLI. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]