Stunning cinematography and surprisingly profound.

Rating: 8/10 (31 July 2014)

Zulu is one of those classics I'd never thought I'd get around to. It never seems to appear on critic lists or award shortlists but its devoted fans push it to modest positions on reader polls. It's easy to see why now. I thought it was going to be a very cold and procedural war film, and it is, but it's balanced out by being surprisingly intellectually stimulating. British films like this are rarely symbolic of myths, unless they're directed by certain auteurs. It's a depiction of a clash of cultures and although they fight, they long for aspects of each other. It's a film on such a grand scale that its minor events and characters feel too trivial to invest in. Granted, it's only on the British side where faces become familiar, but the zulus themselves have their own dignity. The cinematography is up with Lawrence of Arabia and Barry Lyndon in the best of all-time with its wide expanses and vivid reds and blues. It constantly bubbles with tension despite the inevitabilities. If only it was as emotionally grabbing as it is aesthetically and intellectually pleasing, but perhaps it's a film that demands the scale of an IMAX screen for that to be conveyed. Pantomime deaths aside, Zulu is a film that thoroughly deserves its acclaim and perhaps a little bit more.
8/10