Australian film classic released during the nations influential New Wave era, Breaker Morant still stands as a powerful anti-war movie that has drawn parallels to Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory in theme and quality, and with good reason.
Based on historical events, Breaker Morant tells the story of three Australian lieutenants (Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown, Lewis Fitzgerald) who were charged with war crimes during the Second Boer War of the early 1900s. Jack Thompson plays an inexperienced lawyer tasked with defending the three in front of a clearly biased court.
Part court-room drama, part historical war film, Breaker Morant established director Bruce Beresford as one of Australia’s great filmmakers, who delivered a film of significant cultural importance. Performances from Woodward, Brown, and Thompson are particularly strong.