Welshmen never yield

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2008)

Zulu is an undeniable classic. It is based on the battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879 when 96 British soldiers had to defend themselves against a massive force of 4,000 Zulu warriors. This film shows the bravery of the British soldiers who fought in the battle, showing how tough it would have been. The film did focus on the British soldiers, but did treat the Zulus with respect, showing them to be brave, excellent fighters and were not portrayed as evil.
The film has some fine actors who give very good performances. Stanley Baker is very good as Lieutenant John Chard and Michael Caine is good as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead, and it still gets me that he speaks with a posh accent.
Zulu is epic in it portrayal of war, a large number of extras were used. This added to sense of what the Zulu war would have been like. It was gritty when it battle became a hand-to-hand fight and destruction was happening. The Zulus were shown to be tactically knowledgeable and even started to get hold of modern weapons.
The film also has some good scenes not involving the war, including the Zulu warriors and British soldiers singing before an attack by the Zulus, the singing by the Zulus at the end of the battle, the roll-call at the end of the battle and showing the soldiers who earned Victoria Crosses.
I admit that the film is not 100% accuracy, the Zulus did not honest the British after the battle, but Britain and the Zulu did respect each other's bravery. British soldiers did also execute Zulu warriors after the battle, which was admitted from the film because it would not have been such a romantic story if they shown that. Zulu however is a more accuracy then many American films about war, such as the Patriot, Pearl Harbour and U-571. Zulu is good example of British film-making and I would love to a modern British war film.