Backbencher

Breaker Morant was a very interesting movie which explained the rules of war. The movie starts off with three Australian soldiers being court marshaled because of the way they handled a situation with a defenseless Boer soldier. After their leader was killed and dismembered, Morant and his men track down the Boer gorillas that killed his friend/college and kill as many of them as possible. When most of the Boer soldiers escape without being killed, Morant takes out his anger on an unarmed Boer soldier who hid in one of the wagons. Morant decides to put the man to death and orders it done by firing squad. During the trial, the rules of war are explained when the actions of Morant are questioned. The main point that Morant makes at trial is that the war against the Boer was a different kind of war, and they had been given orders to kill all prisoners. Eventually all three men on trial were found guilty of murder. Two of the men including Morant were put to death by a shooting squad, and the other man who was basically a boy was given life in prison instead of death. This movie was a little slow paced but also helped to give a feel to the Boer war and how the fighting took place. The British gave orders to kill prisoners and then covered it up when those issues came to trial. They also gave the solders defense lawyer one day to prepare for trial. One interesting fact about the movie was that Morant got his first name “Breaker” because he was excellent at breaking in horses when he lived in Australia. Overall this movie was pretty good and did a good job of showing some real events of the Boer war.