Directed by Bruce Beresford
Staring Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown & John Waters
Rating PG
Score 6/6

Three Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.

With the anniversary 118th of the executions of Lieutenants Peter Handcock and Harry “Breaker” Morant coming in a fortnight (George Witton’s death sentence was reprived and he ended up serving 3 years in prison), it seemed slightly appropriate to watch Breaker Morant again. For those of you who might be wondering I last reviewed Breaker Morant back in 2012. It should be noted that in certain circles the question of the innocence of Handcock, Morant and Witton is an interesting topic of conversation.

For those of you who might be interested the movie was adapted from Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts written by Kenneth G. Ross which was first performed at the Athenaeum Theatre, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on Thursday, 2 February 1978, by the Melbourne Theatre Company and also The Breaker by Kit Denton.

Judging by my DVD copy of the movie Breaker Morant it’s a movie that hasn’t aged very well because just by looking at the first shot of the movie you can tell that it is forty years old if you take into consideration the quality of the footage that was transferred to DVD and the approach to some of the action sequences. This is an iconic Australian movie and both Jack Thompson and Edward Woodward gave brilliant performances as Major J.F. Thomas and Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant. I know it’s a silly thing to say about this movie but I have to say it, but I am still waiting for a finer cinematic moustaches in one movie.
Even though I have watched this movie more than a few times its still capable of an emotional punch. Then there is the final line of the movie which is such a great example of the Australian sense of humour.