BREAKER MORANT 45
crimes committed by the British Army. Kitchener’s surrogate Col. Hamilton (Vin-
cent Ball) takes the stand and denies ever having relayed a take- no- prisoners order
from Kitchener to the BVC. The trial then examines the murder of Rev. Heese. After
leaving Fort Edward in a horse- drawn buggy, Heese was later found shot to death
along the road. Bolton accuses Morant of ordering Handcock to kill Heese to pre-
vent him from informing the BVC’s commander of Morant’s plans to kill his Boer
prisoners. On the stand, Morant denies the allegation, as does Handcock, who
claims that he was visiting the homes of two married Afrikaner women that day
for sex. Major Thomas produces signed depositions from the women to corrobo-
rate Handcock’s alibi. During a lull in the trial, Handcock admits to Witton that
he did indeed shoot Heese before visiting his two lady friends. When Witton asks
if Major Thomas knows, Morant tells him that there is no reason for Thomas to
know. Despite an impassioned closing argument by Major Thomas, the defendants
are found guilty of shooting the prisoners but acquitted of murdering Rev. Heese.
The next morning the defendants are sentenced to death, but Witton’s sentence is
commuted to “life in penal servitude.” Major Thomas hurries to Kitchener’s head-
quarters to plead for commutations for Morant and Handcock, only to learn that
Kitchener has already left and that both the British and Australian governments
have publicly affirmed the verdict and sentences. He also learns that a peace confer-
ence is in the offing and that the troops will soon be going home. At dawn the next
morning Morant and Handcock are put before a firing squad. Morant, defiant to the
end, refuses the comfort of clergy and a blindfold (as does Handcock). The firing
squad musters as Morant’s poem, “Butchered to Make a Dutchmen’s Holiday,” is
recited in voice- over. Just before they fire their fatal volley Morant shouts, “Shoot
straight, you bastards! Don’t make a mess of it!”
Reception
Breaker Morant proved to be the most popu lar indigenous movie released in Aus-
tralia up to that time, grossing 4.7 million AUD at the box office (the equivalent of
almost $50 million in 2017 U.S. dollars). After screenings at Cannes, the New York
Film Festival, and other venues, the movie received international acclaim, rave
reviews from critics, and 18 AACTA Award nominations, winning 15 of them, plus
an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Palme d’Or nomination at
Cannes, and a win at Cannes for Best Supporting Actor ( Jack Thompson). Breaker
Morant also inaugurated Bruce Beresford’s career as a film director of international
stature and is now recognized as one of the key works of the Australian Film Re nais-
sance of the 1970s and 1980s.
Reel History Versus Real History
In order to enlist optimal viewer empathy for Morant, Handcock, and Witton,
Breaker Morant alters history in large and small ways. For example, it depicts Lord
Kitchener as demanding convictions for the killing of Rev. Heese so as to appease
Germany and keep it from entering the Boer War on the side of the Afrikaners. In
actuality, Germany did not officially protest the murder of Heese. Though ethni-
cally German, Heese was born in Cape Colony (present- day South Africa), so he