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Breaker Morant

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Australia · 1980
Rated PG · 1h 47m
Director Bruce Beresford
Starring Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters, Bryan Brown
Genre Drama, History, War

During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. The General Staff is using them as scapegoats, hoping to distance themselves from the immoral practices of the war. As the defense puts up an increasingly strong argument before the court, the General Staff begins to sweat.

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What are critics saying?

70

Time Out by

If it hardly breaks any new ground either formally or politically, it's nevertheless a moving and highly professional affair, in which Brown and Thompson give particularly good performances.

88

Slant Magazine by Clayton Dillard

A time-jumping narrative that’s rooted inside the linear temporal unfoldings of a pre-determined trial, Breaker Morant is like a conventional bloke in art—house clothing—but oh, what garb he has.

50

Chicago Reader by Dave Kehr

The film handles difficult issues of wartime morality, with clear parallels to the American experience in Vietnam, but Beresford's direction is so placid, distanced, and methodical that the film never admits any doubt or debate; it tends to seal up the issues rather than liberate them.

70

Newsweek by David Ansen

A finely polished, stirring court-martial drama that retells the true story of three Aussie soldiers who are put on trial for the murder of Boer prisoners of war and condemned to death by the British, who hypocritically deny that they were acting on Kitchener's orders. [15 Sep 1980, p.104]

100

Empire by Ian Nathan

Intelligent and moving depiction of the futility of war with a superb script and mesmerising performances from all.

60

Washington Post by Judith Martin

To present a simple progression from crime to trial to death, when a moral dilemma was promised, is a dramatic crime. [01 May 1981, p.19]

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