Facts and location

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2004)

I have read others comments with interest, particularly those complaining about small bullet holes. Well it was 1964, and to be truthfull, do you need gore to explain a true event?
Anyway - a couple of facts about the story which were not depicted correctly. Cetewayo did not order the attack. In fact he ordered his men NOT to attack, but a head strong son ignored him.
The tribute song at the end of the film, did not take place, the Zulu just disappeared into the night.
Now, having said that, and having read the books and seen the film (x number of times since I was 15 (in 1968). I had the opportunity in 1998 to travel to Rorkes Drift and stand where the soldiers stood to face the Zulu.
The foundations of the hospital building has a museum built over it full of interesting stuff, the small grave yard to the fallen soldiers, and the grave stone remembering all the dead zulu are thought provoking.

But what strikes you most is how small the area was in which the soldiers held their ground, with Zulu firing on them from the hills behind and charging them from 3 sides. As you stand inside foundation stones marking the site of the walls etc, the hairs stand up on the back of your neck, and you wonder just how you would have reacted facing up to such a huge army, charging down on you.
If you are a Zulu film fanatic, and should you get the chance - go there. And take time to visit the site of the film Zulu Dawn, where the Zulu attacked the garrison camped at the foot of a hill BEFORE moving on to the small unit at the Drift. White stones mark where men fell, kept bright by dedicated Zulu staff.