Product Description

Personal revenge or act of war? Crazed soldiers or political scapegoats? Winner of 10 Australian Academy Awards, this powerful film directed by the Oscar®-nominated Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Driving Miss Daisy) continues to stir audiences with its timeless themes of wartime morality and military hypocrisy. Based on a true story, Edward Woodward (TV's The Equalizer) unforgettably stars as the controversial folk hero and Renaissance man Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant. As South Africa's Boer War draws to a close, Morant and two fellow Australian soldiers are court-martialed for murder. Their only hope lies in a small-town lawyer who fights passionately for their lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8974 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2008-01-15
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 107 minutes

Customer Reviews

Boer War in South Africa
Exceptional period drama about several Australian soldiers who are placed on trial for murder during the Boer War in South Africa in the 1800's. Told in flashbacks it is the tale of the stress of combat while fighting against a guerilla who knows the land and is supported by the population. Poor leadership and blurred rules of engagement lead to frustration when a soldier is killed by a guerilla and is in turn hunted down and killed. The soldiers are scapegoats to public opinion and a army ledership who wants to cover it's own posterior. Were these men truly guilty of murder or just fighting a war and trying to survive?? An exceptional film.

An Excellent Historical Feature...
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Having first viewed this film well over two decades ago, I watched this new issue last night: I was struck by the excellence of the production.

The re-creation of the Belle Époque period is nothing less than superb. The set designers and costume designers had a real eye for detail here. The dialogue is also very well wrought. And the cinematography is very fine as well.

Rather than a "war picture," I would call this a "costume drama"--somewhat in the vein of Masterpiece Theater.

The depection of turn-of-the-century Empire politics is shrewdly executed, and the film highlights a frequently forgotten milestone in historical-geo-political events: the South African (or Boer) War turned out to be a nasty campaign for the English: it lasted much too long (1899-1902); the Brits themselves unnecessiarly lost too many men; and there was too much collaterial damage--e.g., Boer (Dutch) women and children placed in exposed concentration camps, etc.
It was an ugly mess and an issue for the Germans to scrape over.

And it came at a time of rising lower-middle class and working class prosperity and influence in Britain, with an increasingly independant and critical popular media (newspapers and journals). In the home Islands it was recognized that the war had been grossly mismanaged.
Bottom line: the Boer War was the first national-political scandal to really shake the hold of the ruling class (gentry and aristocracy) in Britain. (The next disaster--WW1--would of course finish the job.)

A lesson in history.

Breaker Morant [Blu-ray]
Breaker Morant (Masterworks Edition)
Breaker Morant
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Simply the Best
This film, is probably the best "War/Anti-war film I have ever seen. Set in the final days of the Boer War, Three Australian Soldiers are tried by a British court-martial for the killing of Boer Prisoners and a German Missionary. Filmed in flash back the story shows the soldiers actions leading to their arrest, with guilt being in the eyes of the beholder.

The films relevence is how the policy of Nations often is leveled on the shoulders of the men in the field. Accutely showing how soldiers serving under extreme circumstances, and often judged by civil law, societies expectations, and governments desire to save face, in unpopular situations. With our countries divided views of the Iraq war, and the conduct of our serving men, this story is as relavent today as it was then.

So if the idea of a "War Movie" puts you off, this film just might convert you. Much like Stanley Kubricks "Paths of Glory" and "Inherit the Wind, it is court room drama at its finest. Winner of 10 Australian films awards, it should be added to the best films ever made.