Breaker Morant · reception & legacy
1980 · Bruce Beresford
How Breaker Morant has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
An instant triumph — a Cannes prize, an Oscar nomination for its screenplay, and a huge hit at home that helped launch Bruce Beresford toward Hollywood. It's stayed canonical as a peak of the Australian New Wave, though modern viewers and historians push back harder on its 'scapegoats of Empire' framing.
What's debated
The perennial fight: is it a great anti-war courtroom drama or an apologia for war criminals — with Beresford himself insisting he was baffled anyone came away thinking the men were innocent.
Its footprint
'We caught them and we shot them under Rule 303' became one of the most quoted lines in Australian cinema, and the film remains a touchstone in any argument about soldiers, orders, and who gets blamed when empires need a fall guy.
Where it stands
A 'you must see this' cornerstone of the Australian New Wave and a fixture of best-courtroom-drama lists — revered by those who know it, under-watched by everyone else.