Well 'ard!

Rating: 10/10 (13 June 2008)

The only 'spoiling' of this film, of actually a very fascinating actioner and history of the Zulu war, is of course, the stretching of the facts. Naturally, there are too many to go into, but to accept this great film for what it is, is the best thing to do. A tiny garrison, at a mission station/hospital, isolated, waiting in 'high-noon' style anticipation/apprehension for the Zulu attack, stirs both the horror and 'stiff upper lip' among the defenders. We're treated though, to the facts here occasionally, that the Zulu army is NOT a rabble of savages, as one would think, in their loin cloths and mud huts. They prove a worthy and intelligent adversary, yes, with a few guns, but mostly pour defiance at the defenders by running into shields of lead every time armed only with their own cow-hide shields and assegais earning our admiration at times, as do the defenders. The British know of the shock defeat at Isandhlwana, therefore adding to the tension. Chard and Bromhead, played by Stanley Baker and Michael Caine respectfully, have had an uneasy liaison, but are thrown together to defeat the horde as it were. Bad boy turned hero 'Hooky' played by the late much-underrated James Booth, shows both humour and new courage in the face of adversity and stirs his chums in the centre of the melee, the hospital, to fight to the death. Plenty of suspense, action, human tragedy and the beautiful backdrop of The Royal Natal National Park made this an epic, supposedly British-made, but the Hollywooders had some input for the money put up for it, thus the sensationalising of the true facts and characters. Just like 'Dad's Army', you can apply plenty of the human touches, as there's equally plenty of soldiers to pick on, in a military situation. I've mentioned Hook, but Gary Bond makes the scared young lad - or is he just a conscientious objector-type? At the end of the fight, with heaps of Zulu dead around them, Chard and Bromhead show another 'conscie' attitude, mentioning the 'ashamed' feelings and 'butcher's yard' mentality of it all, that we should entertain, even though we began watching it for the action, showing our boys against 'the black horde' as it were. We're humbled by it though despite this original reason and it reaches a satisfying conclusion that the Brits are safe due to their bravery, but it's obviously, at the same time, hard not to feel sorry for the Zulus, who showed the same, and what the hell were we doing there in the first place? A brilliant film nonetheless.