Breaker Morant

Movie Information

The Hendersonville Film Society will show Breaker Morant at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.
Score:

Genre: Historical Drama
Director: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters, Bryan Brown
Rated: PG

Viewers who recently caught Bruce Beresford’s latest film, Mao’s Last Dancer, during its run here may be somewhat surprised by his breakthrough film from 1980, Breaker Morant, a much tougher-minded film in every respect. This riveting courtroom drama—based on a play—is one of the key films (along with the works of Peter Weir) that helped put Australia on the world film scene. Now, when I call the film a courtroom drama that doesn’t mean that the film is in any way anchored to that setting, but simply that the story is built around the factual trial of three Australian lieutenants who were court-martialed in 1901 for executing several prisoners and German missionaries as a revenge killing. Much of the film involves flashbacks to the event in question and the events that led to it. It’s bold, uncompromising and completely compelling filmmaking.

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About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

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