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Arts
Thursday, June 18, 1981

The Michigan Daily

Page

'Breaker Morant,'an effectively
understated anti-w ar statement

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By JOSHUA PECK It argues in painstakingly under-
Last Friday, the Australian film stated terms against the unspeakable
Breaker Morant quietly crept into the brutality of war, yet simultaneously
Ann Arbor Theatre. This Friday, it will embraces the nobility of some of the
just as quietly creep out, to make room men who answer the bugle's call.
for what undoubtedly will be a lengthy It is countless layers deep
Superman II run. The brevity of its ap- philosophically, yet never for a moment
pearance will deny most townies the talky.
opportunity to confirm what dozens of It probes its characters' psyches with
critics around the U.S. have discovered infinite boldness, yet remains first and
- Breaker Morant is a great film, foremost an action-filled, highly enter-
among the best of the last ten years. tinings mm+i n m-

THE FILM tells the story of the title
character and two of his Australian
countrymen, all officers of the Bush-
veldt Carbineers (a special British unit
that fought the Boers in South Africa
just around the turn of the century). In
the wake of a series of guerrilla attacks
initiated by the Boers, the Carbineers
were formed to fight back with the
same sort of tactics, which at the time
were considered rather ungentlemanly
by the English.
Provoked by the brutal slaying of
Morant's friend, Colonel Hunt, Morant
and his subordinates lay aside com-
passion and begin to slay their Boer
prisoners, rather than hold them at
their camp or send them to the British
camp at St. Petersburg. Matters are
further complicated by the fact that
they were ordered to start killing Boer
prisoners months before, but refused to
do so until Hunt's death triggered their
more vengeful impulses.
Most of the film's battle sequences
are relayed in flashback; the film's
"present" is the court-martial trial of
the three officers some time after they
kill the prisoners. It seems that the
king's army wants to makea show of its
regret over the war. To appease the
Germans, who have threatened to in-
tervene on the Boer's behalf, Morant
and his comrades are cast as the
scapegoats of the Briton's mock repen-
tance.
BREAKER MORANT is based on a
play, which in turn was based on a book
by the only one of the officers to be
spared the firing squad. Its poignance
rests with an eternal human tragedy:
ANN ARBOR
INDIVIDUAL THEATRES
ENDS TONIGHTI
"PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT"
7:30,9:3
"BREAKER MORANT"
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STARTS FRI
T H E A D V E N T U R E
CO N TI N UES

the circumstances of decent and
honorable men thrust into situations
that do not allow for decency and honor.
Morant does not lust for Boer blood -
late in the film he reveals that he would
rather be fighting on their side. Yet he
has no choice but to do the awful deeds
that will bring English victory; he has,
after all, sworn allegiance on his honor.
With the gentlest kiss of suggestion,
the film also raises pertinent questions-
about a still greater evil - the curse of
Western imperialism. At one point, the
English prosecuting lawyer proudly
boasts of his nation's "altruism" in
protecting South Africa, comparing it
favorably to the greedy Germans, who
seek only after Capetown's mineral
riches. The delicious hypocrisy of the
remark highlights a cynical argument
against this sort of "altruism" that
elegantly suffuses the film.
The acting, without exception, is
brilliant. Edward Woodward, whom
some might recognize from the highly
acclaimed The Wicker Man, is the title
character here. He is best in simple
close-ups that show him besieged with
worry, which he reveals with gestures
as delicate as the fleeting droop of an
eyelid.
Woodward is bested, however, by
Jack Thompson, who plays the attorney
for the defense struggling valiantly to
persuade a court so set in their decision
they hardly hear him. He is the picture
of impotence in the face of tyranny, yet
is only a small part of the success of this
masterpiece, this wonder that is to war
films and courtroom drama what
Eugene O'Neill is to American theater.
The late artist Norman Rockwell
used diapers as paint rags. He bought
them in $50 lots.
MICHIGAN
REPERTORY
Loose Ends
JUNE 17. 18, 19 20
TONIGHT - SATURDAY
POWER CENTER -
8:00 p.m.
PLUS ...
Three Dollar Revue
PTP Ticket Office, MI League
764-0450
Power Center Ticket Office
opens at 6:00 p.m. 763-3333

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CHRISTOPHER REEVE
FRI-7:00, 9:20
CHEAP FLICK COUPON
. with this cad ,
one "SUPERMAN 11"
" ticket ONLY $2.00 0
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