Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1980) prod. Matt Carroll for South Australian Film Corporation, wr. Bruce Beresford, Jonathon Hardy, David Stevens from a play by Kenneth Ross, dp Don McAlpine, musical arranger Phil Cuneen, design David Copping, ed. William Anderson; Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters, Bryan Brown, Allan Cassell, Terry Donovan, Charles Tingwell, John Waters; Eastman colour, 35mm, 90 min.
The War against the Boers (and the British) - fine performances, sustained seriousness.
And the film, with its echoes of Kubrick's Paths of Glory and Losey's King and Country, is tough and challenging, attributes which were becoming all too rare in Australian cinema as the seventies drew to a close and producers started to want to play it safe. Stratton: 56.
The film presents the facts of the case with considerable regard for authenticity and its anti-British feeling represents 1980 thinking even more strongly than 1901 facts. However, the film's success was more likely due to its finely-acted human drama and to Beresford's skill in maintaining fluidity in an often static setting. Brian McFarlane, Murray: 53.
Garry Gillard | New: 7 November, 2012 | Now: 2 December, 2019