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PAGE 12 â€" WaTERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1981 Director Bruce Beresford, who also coâ€"wrote the screenplay, never allows the events to overwhelm the main characters, and without either condemning or condoning them he draws from their situation a disturbing It was, the movie tells us, a courtâ€"martial carried out with a predetermined conclusion. It was in the best interests of the British, then negotiating a peace settlement and fearful of German intervention on the side of the Boers, to find the trio guilty and to execute Morant and a fellow officer. AUSSIE FILM When Morant‘s commander was ambushed by Boers, and possibly mutilated before being killed, Morant led a small force on a vengeance trek which culminated in the execution of a captive Boer without trial. Morant and two other officers who took part in the raid were courtâ€"martialed, not only for the killing of the one captive but for previous incidents of executing other prisoners and the possible murder of a German missionary. Dealing with a small, allâ€"butâ€"forgotten historical incident that occurred late in the 19th century. Breaker Morant zeros in on the solidly human elements. â€" The setting is South Africa, near the close of the Boer War. The title character was an Englishman who had settled in Australia. A horseâ€"breaker and a balladeer, Harry Morant had joined up with an Australian contingent that went to Africa to help preserve the *"‘*Empire.‘"‘ Under British direction, Morant‘s unit became the core of an irregular militia which fought the Boers (mostly farmers of Dutch, German and French descent) using their own guerriliaâ€"style tactics. Its emphasis on sexual innuendo and the utterance (several times) of THAT fourâ€"letter word may concern some parents that History has received Ontario‘s merely advisory recâ€" ommendedâ€"asâ€"adultâ€"entertainment rating. liamsâ€"style swimmingâ€"pool choreography, and the French Revolution as an occasion for a portableâ€"urinal carrier to masquerade as king? Suffice it to say that this is the latest movie by Mel Brooks called The History Of The World Part 1. Depending on your taste for comedy, it is either extravagantly hilarious or disgustingly bizarre. Certainly, there are almost no lows in visual and verbal gags to which Brooks does not literally crawl to get a collective laugh or groan from his audience. But he does it with such chiidâ€"like abandon that you have to be severely straightâ€"laced not to induige in at least an appreciative chuckle for many of his efforts. . Very much in the vein of his Blazing Saddles, History pokes harmless fun at Jews, Chrisâ€" tians, Blacks, homosexuals, women, historical personnages, the handicapped, short people and almost everything else which someone somewhere reverses as sacred. Breaker Morant is proof that good movies don‘t have to be flashy. A flawless example of straightâ€"toâ€"theâ€"point, noâ€"nonsense filmâ€"making, this 1980 Australian picture tells a powerful and involving story with applaudable economy and understateâ€" ment. Michael Cimino might have learned a lot from Breaker Morant that could have been beneficial to Heaven‘s Gate. Not flashy, marijuanaâ€"sniffing keystone cops; the Last Supper as a portrait arrangement by Michaeâ€" langelo; the Spanish Inquisition as a ‘40s moviemusical complete with Esther Wilâ€" By VICTOR STANTON What can one say about a movie that depicts man‘s evolution from the apes as an act of sexual selfâ€"gratification; Moses as a tabietâ€" dropper; worldâ€"conqkueflng Roman soldiers as martinana.eniffing kavetnna maneow tha T 2s Qutlandish humor is Brooks‘ forte Canadian filmâ€"makers producing the likes of Happy Birthday To Me and The Last Chase should take note. Breaker Morant, a multiâ€"award winner last year in its own country, recipient of an award (for Thompson) at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and the first Australian film honored last October by a Royal Command Perforâ€" mance in London, England, drew this astute observation from a British reviewer: ‘"‘The Australians ... have discovered the happy knack of relating indigenous subjects to international issues." Excellent performances are at the heart of Breaker Morant‘s ability to captivate and involve an audience. Predominant in their conviction and forcefuiness are those of Edward Woodward as Morant, Jack Thompâ€" son as the trio‘s defense attorney and Bryan Brown and Lewis Fitzâ€"Gerald as Morant‘s fellow officers. (Woodward, like Morant himâ€" self an Englishman living in Australia, may be recalled from a British TV series of a decade or so ago in which he played the title character, Callan.) â€" The dominant action in the movie takes place in the barracks where the trio are held and their courtâ€"martial conducted. The inâ€" cidents with which the courtâ€"martial deals are depicted in flashbacks. This may not be movieâ€"making at its most imaginative, but the picture certainly does not lack dramatic vitality nor emotional substance. . In Breaker Morant, Beresford, who preâ€" viously directed the excellent The Getting Of Wisdom, shows the pertinent killings, includâ€" ing the final execution of Morant, realistically but without exploiting their bloody potential. Actually, it‘s a statment quite similar to that at the heart of Apocalypse Now, but which was less clearly understood amidst the multiâ€" millionâ€"dollar barrage of sensationalistic batâ€" tle sequences and sound effects that attracted audiences to the latter film. statement about the confused "morality‘"‘ applied to warfare. but good History is narrated by Orson Welles, whose pontificating voice effectively sets up many of the visual absurdities. The long Roman and French Revolution segments both carry on for far too long, with initially funny gags in them losing impact with repetition. Brooks is at his best in vignettes, and the picture‘s opening and closing sequences are most effective in starting and leaving audiences laughing. As long as people are fully aware of the type of movie they are going to see, and they aren‘t easily offended, History Of The World, Part 1 is much of the time, hilarious entertainment for virtually all ages. * history itself, and of course anachronisms abound. A lot of the comic routines seem off the cuff, with the performers frequently seeming on the verge of breaking into laughter amongst themselves. But, by themseives, the youngest of children (and preâ€"teens seemed to make up most of the audience at the performance I attended) pick up on every suggestive image or syllable and reacted with unrestrained enthusiasm. One does not look ior, and definitely won‘t find, any subtleties in performances by Brooks himself â€" who also wrote, produced and directed the picture â€" his familiar screen cohorts Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn and such recognizable clowns and crazies as Sid Caesar, Dom DeLuise, Cloris Leachman, Henny Youngman, Fritz Feld and Spike Milligan. Playboy‘s Hugh Hefner makes a cameo appearance and a bevy of his busty bunnies appear as vestali virgins. _ _Much of the humor in this movie is as old as The producer, director and author and ‘star of Histi:iry of the World Part One is Mel Brooks. DINING ROOM AND LOUNGE SERVICE includes instruction in bartending techniques, food and beverâ€" age service and the host/hostess function. You may qualify for sponsorship by Canada Employâ€" ment or for financial aid through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). Classes will be offered beginning June 22nd only. So don‘t delay â€" get valuable training for a job in this growing industry. To apply, call us today We are offering a special 20â€"week program to train men and women for employment in a dining room or lounge setting. Ontario‘s hospitality trade is growing quickly and requires trained personnel in food and beverage serâ€" vice. Waterloo Campus call CC Building skills today for the needs of tomorrow.