Breaker Morant Film Review Essay

Breaker Morant is an Australian movie made in 1979, portraying an incident in the Second Boer War in which three Australian soldiers were convicted of charges ‘murdering the Boer prisoners.’ The film made from Australian nationalists’ point of view amplifies the notion of injustice put on the Australians and the heroisms of the three Australians: Lieutenants Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton who are members of the Bushveldt Carbineers. Bushveldt Carbineers is a special troop of the British army to counter the guerilla attacks by the Boers. The film mainly focuses on the trial of these three characters, who are sentenced guilty. The three Australians plead innocent that they were merely following unspoken rule of the war. They indeed were just serving the Empire.
The film contains both the aspects of imperialism and nationalism. The war itself is a practice of imperialism by British government, who wanted the control of Boer territory after the discovery of gold mines. The battle scenes of the movie show the guerilla warfare that went on between the two opposing forces. The British forces also burned down the farms of Boer farmers, as this was a new kind of war for the new century where one’s enemy was without uniform. Other than the war itself one can see the practice of imperialism within the trial. The soldiers being charged are Australians, then should they have not been tried by Australian court? British’s practice of imperialism prevents the Australian government from doing so. Also the trial is set up for the Australians to be found guilty; setting the Australians as examples to retain order within the British army. British once again using its practice of imperialism see Australian sacrifices’ as a small price to pay. Australian government is said to have agreed with the convict, one can assume this is due to British influence, practice of imperialism. Despite only given a day to prepare for his case the defense lawyer Major puts on...