A paragon of simple film-making

Rating: 9/10 (1 March 2002)

A simple story well told. No scene-setting, no moralising, no character development, no histrionics, no politics, no polemics. If Hollywood had made it Chard would have to have fallen in love with the missionary's daughter and a Zulu would have to have been fighting with the British, agonising over his torn loyalty to his people. The films strength is that it is just a simple war story told well without any frills or wasted scenes.
As for historical accuracy, as 'true story' films go, you will not find one as accurate as this I can assure you. Every true story film I've seen has made drastic changes to the story to fit in with the drama or omitted large parts of the story as 'confusing'. For the cinematic world Zulu is virtually a documentary.