Genre: Drama / History / War Director(s): Bruce Beresford Release Date: 01 May 1980 Movie rating: 7.9

Bruce Beresford’s 1980 film “Breaker Morant” was the predecessor of the so called Australian New Wave of war films. The film, also co-written by the director, was an overwhelming critical and commercial success in Australia, and it performed fairly well on the international box offices. It is based on the real life events surrounding the court marshal of Harry “Breaker” Morant and two other Australian Army officers serving in South Africa during the Second Boer War (1899-1902). Morant and the other officers are accused of killing seven Boer prisoners, as well as assassinating a German missionary. The trial is the centerpiece of the attempts to set up a peace conference that would end the war, and it is conducted in a fiery atmosphere in which it seems like the accused officers are being used as scapegoats for Australia’s political purposes, and that the guilty verdict is already a foregone conclusion. The climax of the movie is the defense attorney Major J. F. Thomas’ passionate speech, a testimony on how war changes people and turns normal human beings into monsters. Despite the public outcry, the three officers are found guilty for the execution of prisoners (but not for the assassination of the missionary) and sentenced to death.

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