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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 dramatize 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 realize 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
DVD features
The "Masterworks Edition" offers excellent print and sound (recorded in 5.1 Dolby) for this landmark Australian film. (If you want to see how bad prints can be, check out the vintage trailer!) Director Bruce Beresford gives an easygoing commentary recorded a quarter-decade after the film's release. His recollection is deft and he draws parallels of the story's history and the wars at the time (the play was written in the Vietnam era, his commentary is during the Iraq War). Interesting to note that Beresford prefers not having a musical score and he mentions how source music is used (very effectively) in the film. A 20-minute fireside interview with Edward Woodward has a few curious tales, most notably about the esteemed actor's foray into horseback riding.
--Doug Thomas
