- Actors: Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters (III), Bryan Brown, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell
- Directors: Bruce Beresford
- Format: Colour, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, PAL
- Language English
- Region: All Regions
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 - 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Fox Lorber
- DVD Release Date: 12 Nov 1997
- Run Time: 107 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- ASIN: 1572521775
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 247,867 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Before coming to America to make such acclaimed films as Tender Mercies and Driving Miss Daisy, Australian director Bruce Beresford made a lasting impression with this compelling courtroom drama, considered one the finest films of the Australian new wave of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Based on a true story about three soldiers in the Boer War who are served up as political scapegoats of the British Empire, the film uses a flashback structure to dramatise the courtroom testimony. It begins when the three Australian soldiers are railroaded for the justified killing of a German missionary and placed on trial for court-martial not as a matter of justice, but to mollify the German government for the sake of political expediency. Burdened with a competent but inexperienced and hopelessly disadvantaged lawyer, the soldiers realise that their fate has been sealed and the outcome of their trial is a fait accompli. Unfolding with urgent precision and a riveting focus on its well-drawn characters, Breaker Morant was the all-time box-office hit in Australia at the time of its release in 1980, and it remains one of the very best historical dramas ever made. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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]
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Intelligent, engrossing courtroom drama.
Based on a real life incident of Australian soldiers charged with murder --
for political reasons-- during the Boer war. Read more
for political reasons-- during the Boer war. Read more
Published 3 months ago by K. Gordon
Great movie on less than great DVD
I'm usually disappointed with a DVD if the picture quality isn't all that good, but it's such a brilliant film that I stopped being bothered by the disc's less than perfect picture... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Michael Knight
Breaker Morant
One of the many counties coloured red on the world map in 1900 signifying that it was part of the huge British Empire was South Africa where a vicious regional war was being fought... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mr. D. Rowland
Breaker Morant
This film is lagely about a court martial at the end of the Boer War in which an Australian officer is used as a skapegoat regarding not taking prisoners. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2010 by Mr. A. Staite
We are all Expendable
Excellent Australian military drama highlighting once again the pointlessness and brutality of war.
This well constructed movie I understand sticks closely to the true story... Read more
This well constructed movie I understand sticks closely to the true story... Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2009 by J. A. Crawford
A film which grows with each viewing
Bruce Beresford's genius - and he is a genius - is to take a rather predictable courtroom drama which could have been so stagey and wordy, and turn it into a masterpiece of... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2009 by Peter Scott-presland
Breaker Morant
Just the thing I wanted and expected; it was needed as part of someone's dissertation on the Boer War.
Published on 9 Aug 2009 by Mary Hewes
interesting
It is sad that the scape goats of the empire had to die...but what was important was peace at any cost.It is a moving story based on the truth surrounding the boer war. Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2009 by B. J. Morris
Empire ?
A film that makes you see the injustice of Empire building.Its the sort of thing still going on today the sacrifice of the individual for the politicians. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2007 by Smasher
A great courtroom drama about the Scapegoats of the Empire
"Breaker Morant" is best military courtroom drama available on videotape and not just because it is based on a true story. Read more
Published on 21 July 2004 by Lawrance M. Bernabo
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