No greater example of courage and resolve...

Rating: 9/10 (4 July 2006)

Great Britain has done many things for which it should be ashamed, throughout history we have colonised and butchered at the whim of our leaders, but in the hearts of our population there is a resounding beat of moral courage and resolve that echoes throughout our history.
Never before or since has this been illustrated more perfectly than in the events of 22nd January 1879 in the Natal Province of Rorke's Drift, when approximately one-hundred British Soldiers defended an almost derelict outpost against the onslaught of over four and a half thousand Zulu warriors.
I am under no illusion, I have no doubts that our soldiers had no business being in the province, nor in the country - our politicians thirst for colonization and rule of the planet in those harsh times sickens me still, but the soldiers played no part in the decisions of their leaders. They followed their orders, in the name of the Queen, and for the sake of their homeland.
The soldiers had several chances to flee, they could have walked away from the outpost and held their heads high, but with no orders to retreat, the 100 brave men stood their ground.
To fight such a battle against so many Zulu warriors is courage enough, but to winÂ… to stand victorious in the face of such a bloody and relentless onslaught is nothing short of heroic.
The film makes no excuses for the behaviour of our country, nor the jingoistic attitude of it's officers (in fact unlike the majority of factual based movies, the true characters of many of the protagonists were altered to show them in a less flattering light than would have been seen had the truth been told in its entirety). It is not a depiction of our countries finest hour, but of the great and undeniable courage of the men who chose to fight in its name.
The two lead characters are played superbly by Michael Caine and Stanley Baker, but it is the common soldier that steals the heart of the audience. With dry wit and a stiff upper lip, the resolve of England's finest is portrayed to perfection. With unrivalled cinematography and scripting, the events of the day are relived in such a way as to stand each member of the audience shoulder to shoulder with the courageous few that lived and died on that fateful day.
Although the special effects are now sorely dated, the true horrors of warfare are still experienced throughout the film, to the point where the viewer can almost feel the hot sun beating down on their shoulders, and smell the sickening aroma of death and fear as the certainty of defeat drives the defending soldiers to take their stand against inevitability.
No movie has ever so perfectly captured the true nature of courage, and I believe that no movie ever will again.
I dread the day that studio executives decide that a remake is in order (as I am sure one day they will), for this movie deserves its place in cinematic history just as much as the soldiers at Rorke's Drift deserve their place in the history of world conflict.
This movie changed my life, and made me long to be a better man.