Zulu
United Kingdom
1964
138 Min
Color
2.20:1
English, Zulu
Synopsis
On the January 22nd 1879 the British Army suffered one of its worst defeats when Zulu forces massacred 1,500 of its troops at Isandlhwana. A short time after the main battle a Zulu force numbering in excess of 4000 warriors advanced on a British hospital and supply dump guarded by 139 Welsh infantrymen. The film concentrates on this bloody 12 hour battle during which the British force, under their commander from the Royal Engineers who happened to be in the area building a bridge and happened to be senior to the infantry officer, won 11 Victoria Crosses. While taking some liberties with history the film follows reality fairly closely, including matching exactly the identities of the VC winners. —IMDb
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Stu Witmer
11Dec11
Ultra-authentic sets, locations, costumes but it’s not complete. The characters seem merely play-actors. This is perhaps due to John Prebbles' script. The film never really escapes the feeling of being a treatise on the arrogance of imperialism. Patrick Magee as Surgeon Reynolds gets to utter the Author's Message when futility laboring over a dying man on the operating table he says to the British commanding officer: "Damn you Chard, damn all you butchers!" As far as the controversy regarding the film's depiction of period facial hair goes, I'll toss in my two cents: too much on the Zulus and not enough on the British... but what do I know? … And introducing Michael Cain!
richmondhill
31Dec10
Lantern-jawed, thick-ear heroics with a mildly critical take on when a quarter of the globe was coloured pink and all that... Impressively mounted, squarely acted and reasonably literate. Just about the acceptable face of the 'action' genre for me.
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