Breaker Morant (film)

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Breaker Morant

Theatrical Poster
Directed by Bruce Beresford
Produced by Matt Carroll
Written by Story:
Kenneth Ross
Screenplay:
Jonathan Hardy
David Stevens
Bruce Beresford
Starring Edward Woodward
Jack Thompson
John Waters
Bryan Brown
Cinematography Donald McAlpine
Editing by William M. Anderson
Distributed by Roadshow Entertainment
Release date(s) 1980
Running time 107 minutes
Country Australia
Language English
Budget AU$650,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Breaker Morant is a 1980 Australian feature film, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring British actor Edward Woodward as Harry "Breaker" Morant. The all-Australian supporting cast features Bryan Brown as Lieutenant Handcock, Lewis FitzGerald as Witton, and Jack Thompson as Major Thomas.

The 1978 play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, written by Kenneth G. Ross,[1] was the source material for the screen story.[2]

Beresford co-wrote the screenplay with Jonathan Hardy, David Stevens and Kenneth G. Ross.

The film was produced by Matt Carroll. Although the action is set in South Africa, principal photography took place entirely in Australia.

The film was a top performer at the Australian Film Institute awards, with ten wins. It was also nominated for the 1980 Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay.

Contents

[edit] Plot Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Breaker Morant concerns the murder trial of three Australian soldiers, officers of the elite Bushveldt Carbineers in South Africa. Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton are accused of the murder of one Boer prisoner, the subsequent murders of six more, and Morant and Handcock are accused of the sniper-style death of a German missionary, the Rev. Hesse. Their defense counsel, Major Thomas, has had only one day to prepare their defense.

Lord Kitchener, who ordered the trial, hopes to bring the Boer War to an end with a peace conference. To that end, he uses the Morant trial to show that he is willing to judge his own soldiers harshly if they disobey the rules of war. Though, as one character mentions, there are great complexities associated with charging active-duty soldiers with murder, Kitchener is determined to have a guilty verdict, and the chief of the court supports him.

The causes and occurrences relating to the trial are developed. Morant's execution of the Boer prisoners was revenge for the mutilation and death of his friend and commanding officer, Captain Hunt. Angered by the incident, Morant led an attack on a Boer camp, where a Boer wearing Captain Hunt's khaki jacket was captured. Morant had him executed.

The killing of six Boer prisoners was in much the same fashion. Morant later justifies their deaths, saying "You know the orders from Whitehall. If they show a white flag, we don't see it. I didn't see it." Before their execution, Morant notices the German missionary, Rev. Hesse, speaking with the Boer prisoners. Morant, furious, is convinced that Hesse is a spy, though he has no proof. A conversation with Handcock leads to the latter taking a rifle and horse and following the missionary, who is found shot the next morning.

During the trial, the court's bias toward a guilty verdict becomes apparent, as well as the political machinations behind it. The focus is on whether or not orders were issued by Kitchener to shoot all Boer prisoners; Major Thomas' case is that there were standing, though unwritten, orders to do so. Since these were verbally relayed to Captain Hunt, and by Captain Hunt to Morant, there is no way to prove that the orders existed.

Ironically, it develops that while Morant acted under orders by shooting the prisoners, he and Handcock were in fact responsible for the murder of Hesse. Handcock, who took care to set up an alibi with two "ladyfriends," admits to Witton that he actually followed Hesse and shot him. However, the court acquits them of the murder of Hesse, but finds them guilty of the other two charges.

Kitchener is conveniently absent and therefore unavailable for pleas for a reprieve, though he does commute Witton's sentence to life imprisonment before leaving. Morant and Handcock are shot in the morning as Witton is taken to the prison transport. As a final insult Handcock's coffin was built too small for his tall frame, and the soldiers are forced to clumsily cram his body in.

A summary at the end of the movie reveals what happens to some of the characters. Major Thomas returns to his native Australia and continues his law practice, which is otherwise confined to estate planning and wills. Witton serves three years of his sentence, but is released after a national outcry, and writes a book entitled Scapegoats of the Empire, an account of the Breaker Morant affair. This proves so inflammatory and anti-British that it is suppressed during the World Wars.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Background

The film was shot almost entirely on location in and around the South Australian town of Burra, with the Pietersburg courtroom scenes filmed at the former Redruth Gaol. Other South Australian locations included Ayers House and Rostrevor College.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards

Wins

  • Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards (1982)
    • KCFCC Award Best Foreign Film

Nominations

[edit] Quotes

  • Morant: We caught them and we shot them under Rule .303.
  • Morant: There is an epitaph I'd like, though. Matthew 10:36.
  • Morant (to firing squad): Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Subsequent to the film's release, Ross -- who began writing under the name "Kenneth Ross" in order to set himself apart from other creative Australians known as "Ken Ross" -- has found that he must write under the name of "Kenneth G. Ross" in order to distinguish himself from that other, also famous, Kenneth Ross: the Scottish/American Kenneth Ross that was the scriptwriter for The Day of the Jackal.
  2. ^ Many people labour under the misapprehension that it was Kit Denton's 1973 book The Breaker that was the source (see Ross' successful legal action for details).

[edit] References

  • Ross, K.G., Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, Edward Arnold, (Melbourne), 1979. ISBN 0-7267-0997-2

[edit] External links

Cinema of Australia

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