Zulu

I watched three videos the other night: Belly of the Beast, Kill Bill#1, and ZULU. Belly was better than most of Seagals efforts lately, Bill had a bigger budget but was pretty ordinary, and last,at about 2am, I watched ZULU. Sure I was tired, but I soon got my second wind. The others, while more graphically violent, numbed my senses, wereas ZULU stimulated them!!! Who cares that the deaths were stylized (little gore) and there were no four-letter words...... While I can remember very little now about the first two, images dialog, music and camera from ZULU are still with me, days later. A sterling effort, you actually CARE about these people. This movie could not be produced today to this quality - even by the best in the world. A classic: five out of five. (loved the "colour seargant" character!!

It is only natural I suppose for an avowed socialist such as Stanley Baker to have formed a professional bond with two of Hollywood's blacklisted liberals. Some of Baker's best work is for Joseph Losey while 'Zulu' is the finest and most commercially successful of his collaborations with Cy Endfield.

Adapted by John Prebble from his own article, it is shot on location amidst the grandeur of the Drakensberg Mountains in glorious Technirama 70mm by Stephen Dade, has one of John Barry's strongest scores, excellent editing by John Jympson, especially in the battle sequences and boasts a strong cast.

Stanley Baker gives his customarily earthy, no-nonsense performance as Chard whilst Michael Caine in his breakthrough role as Bromhead has ironically been obliged to disguise his cockney roots and has never been quite as effete. Caine was originally considered for the part of Private Hook which went to James Booth whose performance ranks as his finest filmic hour. The requirements of film have dictated that Hook be portrayed as a thief and drunkard whereas in reality he was by all accounts a model soldier. Marvellous support from the imposing Nigel Green as Colour-Sergeant Bourne although the original Bourne was a mere 5' 3''. Patrick Magee impresses as Surgeon Reynolds whilst the superlative Jack Hawkins steals his scenes as the missionary Witt(wisely eschewing a Swedish accent)

Since the film was released there has been a seismic historical shift and nations have been forced to come to terms with their colonial past. One observer has noted that this is essentially 'a cavalry Western in which white men kill indigenous people in order to steal their land and are deemed heroic for doing so.' Empire-making has become synonymous with ethnic-cleansing.

Despite is dramatic licence, glaring inaccuracies and ideological flaws this film is a well-constructed, stirring, Kiplingesque tale of derring-do and individual bravery that has deservedly remained a perennial favourite.

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ZULU steers away from making one side good and one side bad. Okay, we identify with the British troops in the face of insurmountable odds and all that - but you have to admire the ZULU warriors all the more for going up against them unfalteringly and the 'pan' across their fallen bodies isn't so much a moment of joy for the Brits saying "Ha, look how many we've killed of you lot" as opposed to clearly showing what an awful waste of life it all actually was.

The film clearly marks out why the British Army was as good as it was. Organisation. Okay, we got butchered a couple of times, but when placed in a position with time to ready ourselves the British forces where pretty unbeatable. One of the huge advantages being the fact that often we were going up against quite primitive 'warriors' with even more primitive weapons. The whole staying smart, obeying orders and keeping in line, firing in order helped to saved all those mens lives and is a neatly condensed show of arms to everybody out there. Each setpiece of British organisation re-inforces just how good they were, just how well they were drilled and just how murderous they could be with their efforts.

The film clearly marks out why the ZULU forces wasn't quite so good. It wasn't a lack of courage or absence of valour, it was simply down to the fact that they were outclassed weapon and organisation wise. Okay, they made pretty well organised charges and all that, but against rifles that's just cannon fodder. But as is pointed out by the Dutch guy, they're merely counting your guns. The ZULU's in the film aren't daft guys in furry underpants, they're the bravest warriors ever seen (or ever likely to be seen). Well organised forces wilted in the face of British troops during that period, they didn't. The fact they salute the British and walk away merely adds to their nobility and patheticises the British efforts - eventually they would have crumbled, the British would have lost against such odds if the Zulus had pressed all at once. They didn't. They walked away saluting the British effort. That moment alone, with Caine blazing about how they're being taunted and the Dutch guy chuckling to himself struggling to believe what is actually taking place is the icing on the cake of the gradually increasing tension.

For a moment of absolute spine tingling tension you can't beat the ZULU singing being countered by the Welsh Choir of voices. It's an equaliser as such, a moment of contrast and compare between the rigid red suited Brits and the tribal shield clapping chanting.

John Barry's music is a constant presence and always perfectly suited to the moment, I'd be interested to know the content of the ZULU chants though, whether they are authentic (which I figure they are) or simply picked out by the director for looking the most intimidating.

Top film, no insult to anybody.

If you watch only the first two minutes of 'Zulu', it will be worth your while. The superbly dramatic theme music, followed immediately by Richard Burton's striking Welsh narration, are utterly entrancing. The rest of the film is not bad, either!

In January 1879, during the Boer War, at Isandhlwana in South Africa, over one thousand British troops are annihilated by King Cetshwayo's Zulu army. Standing between the four thousand Zulus and victory is the mission station at Rorke's Drift and about one hundred and forty British soldiers, some of whom are wounded. Commanding the military operation is the young Lieutenant John Chard (Stanley Baker, also co-producer of the film) with Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine, in his first major film role). Against the unimaginable odds, the British troops - the B Company of the 24th Regiment of Foot, South Wales Borderers - manage, with exceptional courage and stoicism, to hold off the Zulu attacks until morning. The valour of the men defending Rourke's Drift resulted in the awarding of eleven Victoria Crosses. The roll of honour is recited by Richard Burton at the film's end.

Baker and Caine are very convincing in the two lead roles as Chard and Bromhead, the rival lieutenants from different social classes who come to respect and even like each other. Their first meeting emphasises the psychological as well as the physical distance between them. Chard, the Engineer Officer, in his shirt-sleeves, is up to his waist in water; Bromhead, the upper-class blue-blood, in his helmet and fine cloak, is on horseback, having just returned from hunting. However, as the battle progresses, this rivalry is forgotten as their prime concern is the job in hand. Their exchange when Chard is injured and Bromhead goes to his aid is telling. By the end of the film, as they stand together in the burnt-out ruins of the hospital, they are equals.

The incredibly virile Stanley Baker (one wants to say, "Fwhoar!" every time he appears on screen) co-produced the film because, like most Welshmen, he was extremely patriotic and wanted to publicise the bravery of the Welsh soldiers at Rorke's Drift. Michael Caine auditioned originally for the part of Hook but was offered instead the part of Bromhead as his looks were considered more suited to those of an upper-class officer than a Cockney private.

Good support is given by the other actors in the supporting roles. James Booth as Private Henry Hook is probably the most memorable character, portrayed (historically inaccurately) as the company ne'er-do-well, yet who wakes up to his duty at the moment of crisis and fights almost to the death. Jack Hawkins and Ulla Jacobssen are effective as the well-meaning but naive father-and-daughter missionaries, the Witts. The outstanding bravery and selflessness of the other (mainly) Welsh soldiers is brought out by all the actors in the subordinate roles.

What I think is very admirable about 'Zulu' is its lack of jingoism. Far from it crowing about British supremacy over the natives, it portrays the bravery of the Zulus as equal to or even greater than that of the British. At the end of the battle, there is no great rejoicing; it was just a job which had to be done because they were there. In the ruins of the hospital, when Chard asks Bromhead how he feels, Bromhead replies, "Sick." Their dialogue continues:

Bromhead: There's something else. I feel ashamed. Was that how it was for you? The first time?

Chard: First time? Do you think I could stand this butcher's yard more than once?

Bromhead: I didn't know.

Chard: I told you. I came up here to build a bridge.

No more needs to be said.

Although the character names and events are factual, the film does sometimes sacrifice historical accuracy for dramatic effect. How much real rivalry there was between Chard and Bromhead is unclear - although it is true that Bromhead ceded command to Chard. Private Hook was not the thief and ne'er-do-well as played by James Booth. Colour Sergeant Bourne was a short man and quite unlike Nigel Green in appearance. Most of the Victoria Cross winners were English, not Welsh. And the film itself was shot not at Rorke's Drift but at a location some miles away.

Interestingly, neither Chard nor Bromhead lived to a great age. Both died in their forties, Chard of mouth cancer in 1897 and Bromhead of fever on active service a few years before. Neither ever married. Nevertheless, their names are immortalised in 'Zulu' - as are the deeds of the tremendously brave men, Welsh, English and Zulu, at Rorke's Drift on 22nd/23rd January 1879.

When "Zulu" opened in Sydney in 1964 it had one of those big premieres that military epics received back then: searchlights, red carpet, a band and guests wearing medals.

Shortly after, I took my brother to see it. "Zulu" ticked all the boxes for us.

From Richard Burton's opening narration to his listing of the names of the Victoria Cross winners at the end, we were rapt.

As well as the battle, those bare-breasted Zulu girls did not go unappreciated by a couple of young lads. You didn't see a lot of that sort of thing on the screen in those days. The filmmakers obviously got away with it under the old National Geographic Magazine rule of it's OK if it's the natural attire of the culture, it didn't stop them being hot though.

The film still stands up even if the censorship of the day kept it relatively bloodless. Demonstrations show what a round from a Martini Henry rifle can do to a watermelon, no doubt it would have had the same spectacular effect on a human head. An assegai in the belly would not be as clinical as depicted in the movie either.

But the best bits of the film were often the tense scenes waiting for things to happen and the one where the men drown out the Zulu chant with "Men of Harlech". I haven't a drop of Welsh blood, but that scene always puts a lump in my throat.

The film is classy. Breathtaking photography, terrific performances from top to bottom and an awesome score by John Barry; music to perform heroics by.

The film was a hit in Australia, but something unexpected happened not long after. In 1966, D Company, 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment found itself surrounded by up to 2000 Viet Cong in a rubber plantation at Long Tan in South Vietnam. There were 108 of them, about the same number as the 24th Regiment at Rorke's Drift. They held off attack after attack. Instead of mealie bags they brought down artillery fire, but the fighting was at close quarters as they held their perimeter.

By the time help arrived, 18 of them were dead (17 at Rorke's Drift) while the enemy lay dead in the hundreds. Controversially, there were no Victoria Crosses although more than one was earned. Years later, the company commander likened the battle to Rorke's Drift. But I wonder if while the battle was on, did it flash through the minds of the blokes who had seen the movie that what they saw depicted on the screen they were now experiencing for real?

Would anyone make a film like "Zulu" today? Possibly it would be just too un-PC. Most battles on the screen these days are fought vicariously through intergalactic stormtroopers or by the denizens of "Game of Thrones".

However, historical rights and wrongs aside, I still think "Zulu" rocks; it's simply an exceptional piece of filmmaking.