Breaker Morant (film)
Encyclopedia
Breaker Morant is a 1980 Australian film about the court martial of Breaker Morant
, directed by Bruce Beresford
and starring British actor Edward Woodward
as Harry "Breaker" Morant
. The all-Australian supporting cast features Bryan Brown
, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
, and Jack Thompson
.
Beresford co-wrote the screenplay with the 1978 play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts
(written by Kenneth G. Ross
) as source for the screen story.
It preceded other Australian New Wave
war films such as Gallipoli
(1981), The Lighthorsemen
(1987) , and the 5-part TV series ANZACS (1985). Recurring themes of these films include the Australian identity, such as mateship
and larrikinism
, the loss of innocence in war, and also the continued coming of age of the Australian nation and its soldiers (later called the ANZAC spirit
).
The film was a top performer at the 1980 Australian Film Institute
awards, with ten wins, including: best film, best direction, leading actor, supporting actor, screenplay, art direction, cinematography, and editing.
It was also nominated for the 1980 Academy Award for the Best Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)
.
officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers
serving in South Africa during the Second Boer War
(1899–1902). Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock
, and George Witton are accused of the murder of one Boer
prisoner and the subsequent murders of six more. In addition, Morant and Handcock are accused of the sniper-style assassination of a German missionary
, the Rev. H. C. V. Hesse. Their defence counsel, J. F. Thomas, has had only one day to prepare their defence.
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. Although, as Major Thomas mentions in court, there are great complexities associated with charging active-duty soldiers with murder during battle, Kitchener is determined to have a guilty verdict, and the chief of the court, Lt. Colonel Denny, supports him.
Major Thomas' speech on the "barbarities of war" provides the climax of the film:
, an account of the Breaker Morant affair (reprinted in 1982). Witton's book proved so inflammatory and anti-British that it was suppressed during both world war
s.
n town of Burra
, with the Pietersburg courtroom scenes filmed at the former Redruth Gaol. Other South Australian locations included Ayers House and Loreto College Marryatville.
gave it an average rating of 8.3/10 based on 18 reviews and also comments "Superbly executed in every area, the film is a memorable evocation of the hypocrisy of empire."
The film also acted to stir debate on the ongoing effect and legacy of the trial with its anti-war theme. In one analysis of the film, D. L. Kershen comments: "Breaker Morant tells the story of the Court-Martial of Harry Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton in South Africa in 1902. Yet, its overriding theme is war's evil. Breaker Morant is a beautiful anti-war statement--a plea for the end of the intrigues and crimes that war entails."
Another comments: "The clear issue of the film is accountability of soldiers in war for acts condoned by their superiors. Another issue, which I find particularly fascinating, concerns the fairness of the hearing. We would ask whether due process was present, after accounting for the exigencies of the battlefield. Does Breaker Morant demonstrate what happens when due process is not observed?"
After the success of Breaker Morant, Bruce Beresford was offered dozens of Hollywood scripts including Tender Mercies
, which he later directed. The 1983 film earned him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director to date, even though 1989's Driving Miss Daisy
, which he directed, won Best Picture.
in 2009 dollars.
Nominations
released a Blu-ray Disc
version of the film in the U.S. on 5 February 2008 (107 minutes), including the documentary "The Boer War", a detailed account of the historical facts depicted in the film.
Court martial of Breaker Morant
The court-martial of six officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers , an irregular British force in the Boer War, was based on charges asserting that, between July and September 1901, a Lieutenant Harry Morant had incited the co-accused, Lts Handcock, Witton and others under his command to murder some...
, directed by Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
and starring British actor Edward Woodward
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
as Harry "Breaker" Morant
Breaker Morant
Harry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, poet, soldier and convicted war criminal whose skill with horses earned him the nickname "The Breaker"...
. The all-Australian supporting cast features Bryan Brown
Bryan Brown
Bryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...
, Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Lewis Fitz-Gerald
Lewis Fitz-Gerald is an Australian actor and television director who has obtained a Masters degree in Creative Writing, majoring in Communications Studies.- As Actor :* Crownies * Home and Away...
, and Jack Thompson
Jack Thompson (actor)
Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
.
Beresford co-wrote the screenplay with the 1978 play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts
Breaker Morant (play)
Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts is a significant Australian play written by Kenneth Ross, centred on the court-martial and the last days of Lieutenant Harry "Breaker" Morant of the Bushveldt Carbineers , that was first performed at the Athenaeum Theatre, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on...
(written by Kenneth G. Ross
Kenneth G. Ross
Kenneth Graham Ross is an Australian playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the 1978 stage play Breaker Morant, that was based on the life of Australian soldier Harry "Breaker" Morant....
) as source for the screen story.
It preceded other Australian New Wave
Australian New Wave
The Australian New Wave was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema...
war films such as Gallipoli
Gallipoli (1981 film)
Gallipoli is a 1981 Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during the First World War. They are sent to Turkey, where they take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. During the...
(1981), The Lighthorsemen
The Lighthorsemen (film)
The Lighthorsemen is a 1987 Australian feature film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in the 1917 Battle of Beersheeba...
(1987) , and the 5-part TV series ANZACS (1985). Recurring themes of these films include the Australian identity, such as mateship
Mateship
Mateship is an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship. There are two types of mateship, the inclusive and the exclusive; the inclusive is in relation to a shared situation , whereas the exclusive type is toward a third party...
and larrikinism
Larrikinism
Larrikinism is the name given to the Australian folk tradition of irreverence, mockery of authority and disregard for rigid norms of propriety. Larrikinism can also be associated with self-deprecating humour.- Etymology :...
, the loss of innocence in war, and also the continued coming of age of the Australian nation and its soldiers (later called the ANZAC spirit
ANZAC spirit
The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possess shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers are believed to have shown on the battlefield in World War I. These qualities cluster around several ideas, including...
).
The film was a top performer at the 1980 Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
awards, with ten wins, including: best film, best direction, leading actor, supporting actor, screenplay, art direction, cinematography, and editing.
It was also nominated for the 1980 Academy Award for the Best Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium)
Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay
The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
.
Plot
Breaker Morant concerns the murder trial of three Australian ArmyAustralian Army
The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers
Bushveldt Carbineers
The Bushveldt Carbineers were a short-lived, multinational mounted infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in South Africa during the Second Boer War. The BVC is recognized as the world's first modern Special forces for the use of counter insurgency tactics.The 320-strong regiment was...
serving in South Africa during the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
(1899–1902). Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock
Peter Handcock
Peter Joseph Handcock was a Veterinary Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa. Handcock and Harry "Breaker" Morant were court martialed and executed by firing squad on 27 February 1902 on murder charges for shooting Boer prisoners and a German missionary, Jacob...
, and George Witton are accused of the murder of one Boer
Boer
Boer is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for farmer, which came to denote the descendants of the Dutch-speaking settlers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 18th century, as well as those who left the Cape Colony during the 19th century to settle in the Orange Free State,...
prisoner and the subsequent murders of six more. In addition, Morant and Handcock are accused of the sniper-style assassination of a German missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
, the Rev. H. C. V. Hesse. Their defence counsel, J. F. Thomas, has had only one day to prepare their defence.
Lord Kitchener
Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway...
, who ordered the trial, hopes to bring the Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
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. Although, as Major Thomas mentions in court, there are great complexities associated with charging active-duty soldiers with murder during battle, Kitchener is determined to have a guilty verdict, and the chief of the court, Lt. Colonel Denny, supports him.
Major Thomas' speech on the "barbarities of war" provides the climax of the film:
Now, when the rules and customs of war are departed from by one side, one must expect the same sort of behaviour from the other. Accordingly, officers of the Carbineers should be, and up until now have been, given the widest possible discretion in their treatment of the enemy.
Now, I don't ask for proclamations condoning distasteful methods of war, but I do say that we must take for granted that it does happen. Let's not give our officers hazy, vague instructions about what they may or may not do. Let's not reprimand them, on the one hand for hampering the column with prisoners, and at another time and another place, hold them up as murderers for obeying orders.
[...]
The fact of the matter is that war changes men's natures. The barbarities of war are seldom committed by abnormal men. The tragedy of war is that these horrors are committed by normal men in abnormal situations, situations in which the ebb and flow of everyday life have departed and have been replaced by a constant round of fear, and anger, blood, and death. Soldiers at war are not to be judged by civilian rules, as the prosecution is attempting to do, even though they commit acts which, calmly viewed afterwards, could only be seen as unchristian and brutal. And if, in every war, particularly guerilla war, all the men who committed reprisals were to be charged and tried as murderers, court martials like this one would be in permanent session. Would they not?
I say that we cannot hope to judge such matters unless we ourselves have been submitted to the same pressures, the same provocations as these men, whose actions are on trial.
Historical
After the events in this movie, Major Thomas returns to Australia and continued his civilian law practice. Witton served three years of his sentence, then was released after a national outcry. In 1907, he wrote a book entitled Scapegoats of the EmpireScapegoats of the Empire
George Ramsdale Witton was a Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa. He was sentenced to death for murder after the shooting of Boer prisoners...
, an account of the Breaker Morant affair (reprinted in 1982). Witton's book proved so inflammatory and anti-British that it was suppressed during both world war
World war
A world war is a war affecting the majority of the world's most powerful and populous nations. World wars span multiple countries on multiple continents, with battles fought in multiple theaters....
s.
Cast
- Edward WoodwardEdward WoodwardEdward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE was an English stage and screen actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , Woodward began his career on stage, and throughout his career he appeared in productions in both the West End in London and on Broadway in New York...
as Lt. Harry "Breaker" MorantBreaker MorantHarry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, poet, soldier and convicted war criminal whose skill with horses earned him the nickname "The Breaker"... - Bryan BrownBryan BrownBryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...
as Lt. Peter HandcockPeter HandcockPeter Joseph Handcock was a Veterinary Lieutenant in the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Boer War in South Africa. Handcock and Harry "Breaker" Morant were court martialed and executed by firing squad on 27 February 1902 on murder charges for shooting Boer prisoners and a German missionary, Jacob... - Lewis Fitz-GeraldLewis Fitz-GeraldLewis Fitz-Gerald is an Australian actor and television director who has obtained a Masters degree in Creative Writing, majoring in Communications Studies.- As Actor :* Crownies * Home and Away...
as Lt. George Ramsdale Witton - Jack ThompsonJack Thompson (actor)Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
as Maj. J.F. Thomas - John WatersJohn Waters (actor)John Russell Waters is a film, theatre and television actor and musician best known in Australia, to where he moved in 1968...
as Capt. Alfred TaylorAlfred Taylor (soldier)Captain Alfred James "Bulala" Taylor DSO was a soldier and elected member of the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly.-Early life:Alfred Taylor was born in Dublin in 1862... - Rod MullinarRod MullinarRod Mullinar is an actor, noted for his roles on Australian television.He took a regular leading role in Hunter late in the show's run in 1968, however he appeared in just eight episodes due to the cancellation of the series...
as Maj. Charles Bolton - Charles 'Bud' Tingwell as Lt. Col. Denny
- Terence DonovanTerence Donovan (actor)Terence Donovan , also known as Terry Donovan, is an English-born Australian actor and the father of fellow actor and entertainer Jason Donovan...
as Capt. Simon Hunt - Alan CassellAlan CassellAlan Cassell is an Australian actor, born in the UK and best known for his roles in film and television.Cassell was one of the actors who worked in Bruce Beresford's early Australian films....
as Lord KitchenerHerbert Kitchener, 1st Earl KitchenerField Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway... - Vincent BallVincent BallVincent Ball is an Australian actor who has worked both in Australia and in the United Kingdom....
as Col. HamiltonHubert HamiltonMajor General Hubert Ion Wetherall Hamilton CB, CVO, DSO was a senior British general who served with distinction throughout his career, seeing battle in the Mahdist War in Egypt and the Second Boer War in South Africa, before being given command of the British Third Division at the outbreak of... - Ray MeagherRay MeagherRay Meagher surname pronouned "Marr" , is a veteran Australian character actor. He has appeared regularly in Australian film and television since the mid 1970s, and is notable as the longest continuing performer in an Australian television role, as Alf Stewart on Home and Away, having played the...
as Sgt. Maj. Drummond - Chris HaywoodChris HaywoodChris Haywood is an English-born, Australian-based film and television actor/producer.-Early life:Haywood was born in Billericay, Essex, England. He spent his early childhood in Chelmsford before moving to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire where he attended High Wycombe Royal Grammar School from...
as Cpl. Sharp - Russell Kiefel as Christiaan Botha
- Rob Steele as Capt. Robertson
- Chris Smith as Sgt. Cameron
- Ashur Odicho as Sgt.
Production
The film was shot almost entirely on location in and around the South AustraliaSouth Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
n town of Burra
Burra, South Australia
Burra is a pastoral centre and historic tourist town in the mid-north of South Australia. It lies east of the Clare Valley in the Bald Hills range, part of the northern Mount Lofty Ranges, and on Burra Creek. The town began as a single company mining township that, by 1851, was a set of townships ...
, with the Pietersburg courtroom scenes filmed at the former Redruth Gaol. Other South Australian locations included Ayers House and Loreto College Marryatville.
Critical response
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gave it an average rating of 8.3/10 based on 18 reviews and also comments "Superbly executed in every area, the film is a memorable evocation of the hypocrisy of empire."
The film also acted to stir debate on the ongoing effect and legacy of the trial with its anti-war theme. In one analysis of the film, D. L. Kershen comments: "Breaker Morant tells the story of the Court-Martial of Harry Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton in South Africa in 1902. Yet, its overriding theme is war's evil. Breaker Morant is a beautiful anti-war statement--a plea for the end of the intrigues and crimes that war entails."
Another comments: "The clear issue of the film is accountability of soldiers in war for acts condoned by their superiors. Another issue, which I find particularly fascinating, concerns the fairness of the hearing. We would ask whether due process was present, after accounting for the exigencies of the battlefield. Does Breaker Morant demonstrate what happens when due process is not observed?"
After the success of Breaker Morant, Bruce Beresford was offered dozens of Hollywood scripts including Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
, which he later directed. The 1983 film earned him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Director to date, even though 1989's Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy
Driving Miss Daisy is a 1989 American comedy-drama film adapted from the Alfred Uhry play of the same name. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford, with Morgan Freeman reprising his role as Hoke Colburn and Jessica Tandy playing Miss Daisy...
, which he directed, won Best Picture.
Box Office
Breaker Morant grossed $4,735,000 at the box office in Australia, which is equivalent to $16,809,250in 2009 dollars.
Awards
Wins- Australian Film InstituteAustralian Film InstituteThe Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
(1980)- Best Achievement in Cinematography, Donald McAlpineDonald McAlpine-Early life and career:Before his film career, McAlpine was a physical education teacher in Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. He began using a 16mm Camera to film athletes preparing for the Melbourne Olympics....
- Best Achievement in Costume Design, Anna Senior
- Best Achievement in Editing, William M. Anderson
- Best Achievement in Production Design, David Copping
- Best Achievement in Sound, Gary WilkinsGary WilkinsGary Wilkins is a former professional American football player who played tight end for six seasons for the Buffalo Bills and Atlanta Falcons-References:...
, William AndersonWilliam M. AndersonWilliam M. Anderson is an Irish film editor who was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for the film Dead Poets Society...
, Jeanine Chiavlo, and Phil JuddPhil JuddPhilip Judd is a New Zealand singer-songwriter known for being one of the founders of the bands Split Enz and The Swingers.-Split Enz:... - Best Actor in a Lead Role, Jack ThompsonJack Thompson (actor)Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
- Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Bryan BrownBryan BrownBryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...
- Best Director, Bruce BeresfordBruce BeresfordBruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
- Best Film, Matt CarrollMatt Carroll (producer)Matthew Carroll is an Australian movie and TV producer. He is best known for producing films since the early 1970s including Breaker Morant, Storm Boy and Sunday Too Far Away. Later, he went into television production, producing the television series G.P. for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
- Best Original Screenplay, Jonathan HardyJonathan Hardy- Stage :He was part of the cast in the first public performance of Kenneth G. Ross's important Australian play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Athenaeum Theatre, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on Thursday, 2 February 1978.-Film:His film...
, David Stevens, and Bruce BeresfordBruce BeresfordBruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
- Best Achievement in Cinematography, Donald McAlpine
- 1980 Cannes Film Festival1980 Cannes Film FestivalThe 33rd Cannes Film Festival was held on May 9-23. The showing of Andrei Tarkovsky's film Stalker is interrupted by an electricians strike.- Jury :*Kirk Douglas *Ken Adam *Robert Benayoun *Veljko Bulajić...
- Best Supporting Actor, Jack ThompsonJack Thompson (actor)Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
- Best Supporting Actor, Jack Thompson
- Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards (1982)
- Best Foreign Film
Nominations
- Academy AwardsAcademy AwardsAn Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
(1981)- Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Jonathan HardyJonathan Hardy- Stage :He was part of the cast in the first public performance of Kenneth G. Ross's important Australian play Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts, presented by the Melbourne Theatre Company at the Athenaeum Theatre, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on Thursday, 2 February 1978.-Film:His film...
, David Stevens, and Bruce BeresfordBruce BeresfordBruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
- Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Jonathan Hardy
- Golden Globes (1981)
- Best Foreign Film
Release
A DVD is available by REEL Corporation (2001) with a running time of 104 minutes. Image EntertainmentImage Entertainment
Image Entertainment, Inc. is an independent licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming and film & television productions in North America, with approximately 3,000 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 250 exclusive CD titles in domestic release, and approximately 450...
released a Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
version of the film in the U.S. on 5 February 2008 (107 minutes), including the documentary "The Boer War", a detailed account of the historical facts depicted in the film.
See also
- Kenneth G. RossKenneth G. RossKenneth Graham Ross is an Australian playwright and screenwriter best known for writing the 1978 stage play Breaker Morant, that was based on the life of Australian soldier Harry "Breaker" Morant....
- Breaker Morant (play)Breaker Morant (play)Breaker Morant: A Play in Two Acts is a significant Australian play written by Kenneth Ross, centred on the court-martial and the last days of Lieutenant Harry "Breaker" Morant of the Bushveldt Carbineers , that was first performed at the Athenaeum Theatre, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on...
- 1980 in film1980 in film- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....
- Cinema of AustraliaCinema of AustraliaCinema of Australia, more commonly referred to as the Australian film industry, refers to the system of production, distribution, and exhibition of films in Australia. Film production commenced in Australia in 1906 with the production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, the earliest feature film made...
- Trial moviesTrial moviesTrial movies is a film genre, also commonly referred to as courtroom drama.-The American Bar Association's list:In 1989, the American Bar Association rated the twelve best trial films of all time, and provided a detailed and reasoned legal evaluation for its choices. Ten of them are in English; M...
- Breaker MorantBreaker MorantHarry 'Breaker' Harbord Morant was an Anglo-Australian drover, horseman, poet, soldier and convicted war criminal whose skill with horses earned him the nickname "The Breaker"...
- Court martial of Breaker MorantCourt martial of Breaker MorantThe court-martial of six officers of the Bushveldt Carbineers , an irregular British force in the Boer War, was based on charges asserting that, between July and September 1901, a Lieutenant Harry Morant had incited the co-accused, Lts Handcock, Witton and others under his command to murder some...
External links
- Breaker Morant at the National Film and Sound Archive
- Liner notes from the original Criterion Laserdisc
- Australian Screen
- Breaking in the Breaker
- The Age Education
- Murdoch University Reading Room
- Oklahoma City University Law Review
- Australian Film Commission
- Film Information - Awards, Synopsis & Review
- Urban Cinefile Classic Clip
- Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection
- British Film Institute
- film.org.au: the best of Australian Films