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| Breaker Morant [Blu-ray] | ![Breaker Morant [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tCDigu2%2BL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Bruce Beresford
Actors: Charles 'bud' Tingwell, Jack Thompson, Chris Haywood, Terence Donovan, John Waters (iii)
Studio: IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $11.94
You Save: $18.04 (60%)
New (22) Used (6) Collectible (1) from $11.94
Avg. Customer Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 3842
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Ntsc, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 107
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: IMEBR4736
UPC: 014381473650
EAN: 0014381473650
ASIN: B000X73NCW
Theatrical Release Date: 1980
Release Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW AND FACTORY SEALED
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Story And A Metaphor February 16, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Breaker Morant, a fine Australian film made a generation ago, can be viewed in one of two ways, either being equally valid. It tells a straightforward story of true events that came to pass after the Boer War ended in 1900, in which a pair of valiant Colonial soldiers, one of whom a former horse "breaker" named Morant, are executed by firing squad in a probable and in some quarters still infamous miscarriage of justice. Victory having been achieved in this unpopular South African war, the British begin to mend fences with the uneasy Boer population and to that end seek out scapegoats whose punishment might appease Boer resentment over the savagery with which the British waged their anti-guerilla fight in the closing days of the hostilities. Selecting veterans responsible for the "execution" of members of a Boer partisan group, the British hierarchy gives world-wide center stage to this trial, and later to the punishment of two men (a third member of the accused trio is later spared death) most directly at the heart of the incident in which armed Boers masquerading as civilians died. This judicial action divided segments of the British population and engendered considerable resentment in Australia, as the soldiers put to death were brave and loyal military members, much needed by the Empire in a time of war and suddenly dispensable in a time of uneasy peace. It should also be noted that the Boers the condemned men shot that day were almost certainly guilty of being clandestine insurrectionists responsible for direct attacks on British forces in a conflict in which the distinctions between friend and foe had long since blurred and in which the rules of "civilized" Victorian-era combat had broken down in a very modern way.
And of course as I mentioned Breaker Morant is also unavoidably metaphorical, as it was somewhat intended to be. The men killed by firing squad were a sort of "anymen" fighting in "anywar" be they British in Africa a century since, Americans in Vietnam forty years ago, or service personnel in Iraq today. In war there will always be cruelties, human beings under great pressure will on occasion snap, and when faced with an enemy who clothes himself in the guise of civilians, an individual's judgment of right and wrong will always fade from sharp focus.
Breaker Morant is a good film, and its story is universal.
And sad.
 Timeless view of the politics of war and empire building January 19, 2007
I can't say enough about this film. The plot, the characters and the actors who play them are excellent. It is the kind of film that one can watch time and again, and each time, catch another detail that makes the film more meaningful.
Underappreciated Gem January 11, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This movie is very well done, with crisp performances by all participants. Based on actual events, it tells the story from a very pro-Aussie anti-British point of view. Regardless of this bias, the story is well told , believable and moving. Quite a thought provoking, yet enjoyable drama. (BTW, I have heard that this was Ronald Regan's favorite film, not sure if that was true or not.)
The first taste of the 20th century... October 28, 2006
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I saw this movie as a pre-teen with my father and it made quite an impression on me. Even then I had read many books about the British empire, even one history on the Zulu wars, so I had something of a context for the movie. I was thinking about Breaker Morant again the other day and decided to order it from Amazon and watch it once more. I am glad I did. The movie is as excellent as I remember it. This is a courtroom drama of three Australian soldiers brought up on charges of shooting enemy prisoners, despite the fact they were acting under orders when doing so. Between the courtroom scenes one is treated to vignettes of the soldiers in the field where the events happened. The movie, based on actual events, is stirring, poignant and obviously memorable. Well worth watching.
It does an excellent job of portraying the differences betwixt the British and Australian national characters and the underlying tensions between these groups. It also shows how geopolitical events can conspire to make scapegoats of good, decent, and loyal soldiers. In this case the British are forced to prosecute these soldiers in order to appease the Germans, who at the time of these events had the most powerful army in the world. If the Germans had weighed in on the side of the Boers it would have been disastrous for the British. In order to avoid this the Australians are tried as war criminals. Thus WWI was avoided for another 15 years.
The movie is eerily prescient of so many problems which plague the world today. The problems of fighting an enemy who is not in uniform, who employs hit and run guerilla tactics, and who is not a soldier of sovereign nation. How do you fight them? What rules do you adhere to if they do not adhere to your rules? If you capture them, how do you treat them? These are issues we have been dealing with since the events of this movie and are caught up with yet today with the war on terrorism. It is all to easy to imagine the military today offering up it's own soldiers as scapegoats in order to bring the conflict in Iraq to an end. Beneath the stirring courtroom drama, the movie also shows how so many other elements of our current military and world situtation have roots in this conflict. The special forces units we employ, even the word Commando, trace their roots to the Boer conflict. Concentration camps trace their roots to the Boer war as well, an invention of the British, not the Germans. Even the shooting of prisoners, despite being under orders, and the treatment of insurgents, harkens to scenes of Nuremberg and Guatanamo Bay.
The movie is well worth watching for it's historicity, showing early developments in guerilla war, concentration camps, terrorism, counter-insurgency tactics, and special forces, as well as the slow slide of the British empire and how geopolitical forces can grind indivudal soldiers to dust as easily as enemy actions. It is also a splendid courtroom drama on top of all that. I highly recommend it.
For pity's sake, don't shoot them! October 12, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A gripping tale of a true event in the Great Anglo-Boer war which brings out the difficult task of fighting insurgencies while appeasing world opinion. The men in this tale are good men caught between orders and duty and the intrigues of politics larger than themselves. The end leaves you with the sense of loss and utter futility of war. One of the best movies of its kind - the acting is wonderful, the scenery is bleak and forboading, the backdrop of "the Breaker's" poetry is emotionally stirring.
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