AustLit

'A New Age comedy thriller set on the north coast of New South Wales.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 23/1/2014)

Something capable of defying gravity is killing the women of Sydney, and then removing their eyes. The only man who can stop the crimes is an innocent bystander who shares a psychic link with the killer. But how can he stop the police from suspecting that he is involved?

In 1902, thirteen-year-old Bertha Schippan was savagely murdered in Towitta, South Australia. Her elder sister was convicted of the crime but public sympathy saved her from being hanged. This explores the possible reasons for her actions, suggesting that she did it as a means of escaping a harsh and spartan family life.

Adapted from the play of the same title by Kenneth Ross, Breaker Morant is based on the 1901 Boer War court martial of three colonial officers in the Bushveldt Carabineers, who are sacrificed to the dictates of imperial expediency. The interweaving of courtroom drama with the re-creation of the events leading to the court martial (the supposed murder of twelve prisoners and a German missionary) is given a degree of moral complexity, but the balance of sympathies is manipulated to favour the three Australian 'irregular' soldiers. The accused (Lieutenants Harry 'Breaker' Morant, Peter Handcock, and George Witton) are defended by Major Thomas, an inexperienced Australian lawyer who struggles to have his case heard.