Once were warriors

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2017)

Zulu became so famous that the movie soon descended into parody including that Michael Caine impression: 'Oi, stop chucking those spears at me!' It is noticeable that Caine actually played a posh officer.
Zulu is an epic directed by the American Cy Endfield. It is set in 1879 and depicts 4000 Zulu warriors heading for Rorkes Drift in Natal where a small supply post is defended by about 100 British soldiers.
The first half of the film consists of showing the various characters from the British side. A barrack room lawyer shirking from battle (James Booth) a by the book pompous posh officer (Michael Caine) and an engineer (Stanley Baker) determined to be tactical and defend this outpost by setting up barricades and getting ready for battle.
The second half is the relentless battle scenes as waves and waves of Zulus attack. Although it has to be said, the British soldiers although fewer in numbers have guns, the Zulus being in greater numbers mainly have spears and once they have been thrown, nothing much else.
The film might look old fashioned but Stanley Baker was also one of the producers of the film. As a staunch socialist he was determined that this film would not be seen as some kind of jingoistic, colonial boys' own adventure but pay tribute to those mainly Welsh soldiers, eleven of them who were awarded the Victoria Cross. The film stills stands its ground.