A key figure in the movement with films such as Puberty Blues (1981), before leaving for Hollywood success with films such as Driving Miss Daisy (1989), director Bruce Beresford here tackles one of the British military’s first prosecutions of its own men for war crimes. During the Boer War, Lieutenants Morant (Edward Woodward), Handcock (Bryan Brown, who would also go on to become a familiar face in American films), and Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) stand accused of the murder of enemy prisoners and a civilian. As they are clearly shown to be guilty, Beresford’s film has space to explore issues around the dehumanising nature of war, in actions undertaken through one’s own initiative and in those one is ordered to complete.

Notes by Kevin Coyne.

Screening as part of the Australian Dreams season.