Héros ou salopards
Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre.
 |
Vous venez de demander une traduction de Héros ou salopards
Veuillez créer (exemple détaillé) la sous-page qui assurera le suivi du processus de traduction en cliquant sur Projet:Traduction/Héros ou salopards.
|
Héros ou salopards (Breaker Morant) est un film australien de Bruce Beresford sorti en 1980.
[modifier] Synopsis (traduction de l'anglais à terminer)
-
Ce qui suit dévoile des moments clés de l’intrigue.
Héros ou salopards raconte le procès de trois soldats australiens, officiers des "Bushveldt Carbineers" en Afrique du Sud. Harry "Breaker" Morant, Peter Handcock and George Witton sont accusés du meurtre d'un Boer prisonnier, du meurtre de six autres ; Morant et Handcock sont accusés d'avoir tiré un missionnaire allemand, le révérend Hesse. Leur avocat, le major Thomas, eut seulement un jour pour préparer leur défense.
Lord Kitchener, qui ordonna le procès, espérait achever la Guerre des Boers par une conférence de paix. A cette fin, il utilisa le procès Morant pour prouver sa volonté de juger ses propres soldats fermement au cas où ils désobéiraient aux règles de la guerre. Though, as one character mentions, there are great complexities associated with charging active-duty soldiers with murder, Kitchener is determined to have a guilty verdict, and the chief of the court supports him.
The causes and occurrences relating to the trial are developed. Morant's execution of the Boer prisoners was revenge for the mutilation and death of his friend and commanding officer, Captain Hunt. Angered by the incident, Morant led an attack on a Boer camp. here, they captured a Boer prisoner who was found to be wearing Captain Hunt's khaki jacket. Morant ordered him to be executed, an order immediately followed.
The murder of six Boer prisoners was in much the same fashion; having surrendered, they were captured, which Morant later justifies, saying "You know the orders from Whitehall. If they show a white flag, we don't see it. I didn't see it." Before the execution, Morant notices the German missionary, Rev. Hesse, speaking with the Boer prisoners, who are under guard. Morant, furious, is convinced that Hesse is a spy, though he has no proof. A conversation with Handcock leads to the latter taking a rifle and horse and following the missionary, who is found shot the next morning.
During the trial the court's bias toward a guilty verdict becomes apparent, as well as the political machinations behind it. The focus is on whether or not orders were issued by Kitchener to shoot all Boer prisoners; Major Thomas' case is that there were standing, though unwritten, orders to do so. Since these were verbally relayed to Captain Hunt, and by Captain Hunt to Morant, there is no way to prove that the orders existed.
Ironically, it develops that while Morant acted under orders by shooting the prisoners, he and Handcock were in fact responsible for the murder of Hesse. Handcock, who took care to obtain an alibi from two "ladyfriends", admits to Witton that he actually followed Hesse and shot him. However, the court acquits them of the murder of Hesse, but finds them guilty of the other two charges.
Kitchener is conveniently absent from the area and not available for reprieves, though he does commute Witton's sentence to life imprisonment before leaving. Morant and Handcock are shot in the morning as Witton is taken to the prison transport.
A summary appears at the end of the movie, stating what happens to some of the characters. Major Thomas returned to his native Australia and continued his law practice, which was otherwise confined to estate planning and wills. Witton served three years of his sentence but was released after a national outcry, and wrote a book entitled Scapegoats of the Empire, an account of the Breaker Morant affair. This proved so inflammatory that it was suppressed by the British during the World Wars, as it expressed a very anti-British sentiment.
