The question that nagged at me when watching the 1980 Australian film ‘Breaker Morant’ was why on earth I’d never heard of it until a good chum kindly gifted a copy to me over Christmas. After all, we’re both big fans of Edward Woodward, who plays the title role, but this movie had never made it onto my radar. With a solid 7.8/10 score on IMDB, it seems it’s not just me who thinks this neglected piece of Australian cinema is ripe for reappraisal, restoration, and a whole new release in high definition. It is, after all, a moving, thought-provoking, brilliantly-performed and directed film that stays with you after you’ve seen it.
I look at some of the aspects of ‘Breaker Morant’ that give it appeal, but may also account for its relative obscurity.
The Boer War
Nobody really talks about the conflict in South Africa that forms the backdrop of ‘Breaker Morant’ now. It took place at the turn of the Twentieth Century, just as Queen Victoria died and her son Edward VII took the throne. The war was messy, and as the film accurately depicts, no side came out of it well. The armies of the British Empire (including Australian soldiers) fought the Boers, who were mainly farmers of Dutch ancestry, over colonised land. The use of detention centres, effectively concentration camps, became a stain on the British Empire and caused a scandal at home. There was a hurry to end the conflict. Twelve years later, the First World War erupted and changed the world forever, and the Boer War became a footnote in history. ‘Breaker Morant’ picks up on this ‘new style of warfare’ that would inevitably lead to the traumatic Great War, and offers viewers an understanding of how military warfare was rapidly changing at the start of that most deadly of centuries.
The Australian involvement
The Boer War is complex enough for casual viewers to contextualise. Unless you’re steeped in military history, it’s probably a conflict that wasn’t covered in the school syllabus and it may therefore exist in the mind only as a knowledge gap. The film ‘Breaker Morant’ complicates the historical context further by telling what is a true story from the perspective of Australian soldiers, who were fighting on behalf of the British Empire at the time. However, as the film depicts, there were wider political issues at stake, such as a peace conference that would have meant the end of the war. The ethics of Lord Kitchener, an archaic presence even then who was still making disastrous decisions by the time of the First World War, are called into question by the events of the film. When Breaker Morant and his fellow lieutenants Handcock (Bryan Brown) and Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) are put on trial for the murder of Boers, they immediately become pawns in the games of those, like Kitchener, in power. The film humanises their plight brilliantly and sympathetically, but the complexity of the geopolitics behind the story may be off-putting for casual viewers. Australian cinema has produced plenty of masterpieces, but the British have been slow to catch on to this. In 1980, ‘Breaker Morant’ may not have had the UK distribution a film of its quality deserved.
Star Edward Woodward
In 1980, the star of the movie was between the significant television roles that had made him an international star. His groundbreaking espionage series ‘Callan’ was all but over, and his US-based hit ‘The Equalizer’ was yet to be made. Woodward became well-known for playing hard and dangerous men who had a compassionate side, so Breaker Morant is well within his wheelhouse. Lieutenant Morant is a complex character. He is a soldier who is fully accepting of the rules of combat and takes Boer life without regrets. But he is also a poet and a man with a strong moral code, who will abide by the rules of conflict. It’s only when his friend, Captain Hunt (Terence Donovan) is killed in a trap, and tortured before his death, that Morant seeks revenge upon the Boers who were responsible for the murder. When the goalposts are moved and nobody will admit that the rules of warfare have changed, Morant is caught in a trap by those who should be on his side. Moral indignation is an emotion that Woodward was peerless at performing, and he’s given plenty of opportunity to shine in this film. Those who admire his fine singing voice will also enjoy a scene in which he performs.
Compelling true story
‘Breaker Morant’ is an accurate reenactment of shocking events that occurred in South Africa in 1901. The knowledge that the three Australian lieutenants who are court martialled in the film really existed lends the story much more power than it otherwise might have. Ordinary lives have always been the playthings of the powerful, who can get away with murder, and those of us without influence are powerless to prevent injustices being imposed upon us by those above. That is the resoundingly clear and compelling message of the film. With this comes a long sequence of courtroom drama. Director Bruce Beresford uses plenty of tricks such as flashbacks and unusual editing to ensure that the pace does not let up, but nevertheless this is a film with much more dialogue than action. If you’re drawn into the drama, you’ll be spellbound, but if you prefer high octane stories, then ‘Breaker Morant’ may be too slow for your tastes.
Solid guest cast
There are a lot of great actors in ‘Breaker Morant’ besides the always-fabulous Edward Woodward. Bryan Brown was your go-to cinema actor of the 1980s and 1990s if you needed an Australian. You may remember him as Tom Cruise’s best mate in ‘Cocktail’, or as Sigourney Weaver’s love interest in ‘Gorillas in the Mist’. He had earlier worked with director Bruce Beresford in ‘Money Movers’. He is outstanding as the cheeky womaniser Handcock. Lewis Fitz-Gerald, who was only in his early twenties when the film was made, is touchingly vulnerable as their young friend and colleague Lieutenant Witton. There’s also an excellent performance by Jack Thompson as Major Thomas, the Australian officer charged with defending the three men in court. It’s Edward Woodward who would have been the most bankable name. Although he appeared in plenty of films, he wasn’t necessarily a movie actor. The cast is rock solid and superb without being box office dynamite.
Director Bruce Beresford
The talented Australian filmmaker behind ‘Breaker Morant’ is Bruce Beresford, whose movie later that decade, ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In a lengthy interview, Woodward describes Beresford as the best director he ever worked for, and ‘Breaker Morant’ amongst the projects of which he was the proudest to have worked on. Watching the film now, I can see why.
It seems to be the case that those who have seen ‘Breaker Morant’ love it and recognise its quality. But outside of Australia, word has been slow to spread. Check out the trailer for ‘Breaker Morant’ above and if you like it, have a look at the Australian release on Blu-ray and DVD.
