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Breaker Morant (1979)

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clip 'The penalty is death' education content clip 2, 3

This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Morant (Edward Woodward), Handcock (Bryan Brown) and Witton (Lewis Fitz-Gerald) meet their lawyer, Major J.F. Thomas (Jack Thompson), a country solicitor. It is one day before their trial is to start, and they are horrified to discover their lawyer has no trial experience.

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

The scene gives a good introduction of the chararacters, their social status, their youth or experience, their relationships with each other. Morant speaks with an educated English voice; Thomas has an Australian educated voice; Handcock is much more broadly working class Australian, but full of savvy; Witton’s social status is less clear, but not as important in the scene as his absolute youth. The glance between the two older men makes clear they have been shielding him from the full knowledge of the charges. Thomas has no such inhibitions. Much of the film is about questions of youth versus experience, honesty versus cynicism and political expediency – an interesting ethical domain to explore, given that it’s a film about war crimes, and 'military justice’. (See also The President Versus David Hicks).

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