Quick Mini-Review: Breaker Morant

I don’t have a whole lot of time today. Lots going on at work, and this is the first chance I’ve had all day to even breathe. Still, I didn’t want to leave you all empty handed, so I thought I’d take a moment to promote a movie I’d never heard of, and I’m thinking you might not have heard of it, either. Breaker Morant tells the story of a military operation during the Boer War in South Africa, back in the early 1900s. A group of Australian soldiers (fighting for the British) are accused of unlawfully killing several Boers and a German missionary. The story unfolds as the trial progresses. So it’s a mix of a war movie and a courtroom drama, with some history thrown in on the side.

What sets it apart from other movies is some fine acting performances. I don’t know what it is about foreign movies–they’re just different from American movies. It might be the worldview, or it might be the approach to film making, but they feel different, and I like seeing things from different angles. It’s not often I get a chance to watch an Australian movie. The story itself (based on historical events) is fascinating. The Boer War was one of the first “dirty wars”–wars where people stopped fighting according to a code of honor and started fighting using any means necessary to win. Contrasting that with the wars of today is an interesting exercise–seeing how they viewed it then, and how strange and unnatural it seemed to the people at the time. The movie also brings up excellent themes of the relative importance of human lives and what does it mean to tell the truth.

In any case, I’m out of time for today, but I highly recommend this movie. 3.5 stars, and well worth your time. Anyone out there already seen it? Speak up!