'Breaker' Morant (film)
Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRE : 'Breaker' Morant (film)
Breaker' Morant' is a 1979 Australian feature film, directed by Bruce Beresford and starring British actor Edward Woodward in the title role. 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, was the source material for the screen story.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 Kenneth Ross that was the scriptwriter for The Day of the Jackal.
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.
Plot Summary
"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. There, they captured a Boer prisoner who was found to be wearing Captain Hunt's khaki jacket. Morant ordered him to be executed, an order immediately followed.
The murder of six Boer prisoners was in much the same fashion; having surrendered, they were captured, which Morant later justifies, saying "You know the orders from Whitehall. If they show a white flag, we don't see it. I didn't see it." Before the execution, Morant notices the German missionary, Rev. Hesse, speaking with the Boer prisoners, who are under guard. 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 obtain an alibi from 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 from the area and not available for reprieves, 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.
A summary appears at the end of the movie, stating what happens to some of the characters. Major Thomas returned to his native Australia and continued his law practice, which was otherwise confined to estate planning and wills. Witton served three years of his sentence but was released after a national outcry, and wrote a book entitled "Scapegoats of the Empire," an account of the Breaker Morant affair. This proved so inflammatory that it was suppressed by the British during the World Wars, as it expressed a very anti-British sentiment.
Trivia
- "'Breaker' Morant" is used commonly as a learning-tool film in Australasian schools, particularly in high-school English and History classes. While most teenagers will be unfamiliar with the lead actors in the film, a character, Sgt Major Drummond, is played by Australian actor Ray Meagher, more well-known as Alf Stewart from Home and Away. Many a class group, while watching the film, has been spectacularly disrupted when his character appeared, and audience-members shouting "Alf! Alf!.
- 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.
Quotes
Morant: We caught them and we shot them under Rule .303.
Morant: There is an epitaph I'd like, though. Matthew 10:36.
Major Thomas (turning to minister): Matthew 10:36?
Minister: "And a man's enemies shall be they of his own house."
Witness: There were a lot of discipline problems with the Australians. They'd only salute the officers they liked.
Handcock: Reckon you didn't get too many salutes, mate!
Handcock (to witness): You couldn't lie straight in bed, Drummond!
Morant (to firing squad): Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!
Morant: Remember us, lad! Scapegoats of the bloody empire!
See also
Notes
References
- Ross, K.G., Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, Edward Arnold, (Melbourne), 1979. [ISBN 0726709972]
- Ross, Kenneth, "The truth about Harry", The Age, 26 February 2002. (Written on the hundredth anniversary of Morant's execution and the twenty-fourth anniversary of the first performance of his play, the same article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald of 26 February 2002 in almost identical form) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/02/25/1014471630364.html
External link
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.