More Gratuitous Llama Netflix Posting

I had promised myself that I would start Netflixing only with movies I hadn't seen before. But a sudden inspiration urged me to sneak this one into the queu:

Breaker Morant.

If you've never seen this 1980 movie, I can't recommend it too highly. It tells the stories of three members of Australia's Bushveldt Carbineers, an irregular commando unit that specialized in guerilla tactics, who were court-marshalled by the British during the Boer War for allegedly committing atrocities against the Boers, including shooting prisoners. (They were also accused but acquitted of shooting a German missionary who tried to complain about their behavior.) The lead defendant was the flamboyantly romantic Lt. Harry Harbord "Breaker" Morant - poet, adventurer and, by all accounts, rogue.

The argument at the trial wasn't so much over whether the Carbineers had taken the actions claimed - they more or less admitted it - but whether they were acting under orders. Although a good deal of the record seems to have vanished under mysterious circumstances, it seems at least plausible that they had indeed been told to carry on, but that the Brits - in the face of growing international scrutiny - decided to sacrifice them in order to cover their own backsides and to show that "something was being done" to bring about reform. (British Government post-trial behavior certainly adds weight to this suggestion.) The film definitely takes this line.

As I say, there isn't much historical record to go on. I've searched the 'net every now and again and only come up with a hand-full of tribute sites, many reprinting some of Morant's poetry.

The only traditional history I have of the Boer War is:

The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham. It's an excellent overview, but devotes literally three sentences to the Morant trial, suggesting that Australian claims of its soldiers' innocence were overblown. Whatever the merits, this incident was significant in that it prompted the Australian Government to never again allow its own soldiers to be put under total foreign legal command.

But the history aside, this is a beautifully done movie. If you've only ever seen Edward Woodward as the Equalizer, it will open your eyes to his true range. The cinematography is, at times, breathtaking (for example, the visual pairing of the two firing squads, the Bushveldt Carbineers and the Cameron Highlanders, has always touched me), the courtroom drama is first rate and there are a couple of very good battle scenes as well. And lest you think it's all kangaroo courts and battlefield atrocities, there is also a good bit of humor in the film.

As I say, if you haven't seen it, you really should.