My favorite thing about Zulu is the factual representation of Brit infantry firing in volley.
There is a myth that we won the Revolution by hiding behind trees and rocks and picking off redcoats who were absurdly standing in line just waiting to be shot.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It was only after the Americans learned how to fire in volley that they could stand up to British infantry.
Zulu shows the devastating effect of volley fire and such historical accuracy is rare in movies.
Interesting. Do you have a cite for this ?
While what you say is true to a point, it is not totally factual. While the Americans could not stand up to the British fighting in the British style, that is standing out in the open while simply standing there and letting the enemy have at you, and using volley fire, once the learned they would have to fight differently they won battles. Later in the war they were better trained in volley fire. The volley fire was mainly effective with muskets because muskets were notoriously inaccurate.
At the battle of kings mountain in which Ferguson got his butt kicked by American frontiersman using mostly rifles there was no volley fire, the Americans fought from cover.
The British had the technological edge on the Americans in that battle because they were using the Ferguson rifle, the first practical breech loading rifle to be used in combat. Luckily for the us the British high command didn't think much of the new fangled rifles and when Ferguson was defeated it just cemeted their beliefs and all use of the Ferguson was suspended at that point.
The frontier soldiers used hiding and rifles to great effect, the main troops fighting the British were not frontiersmen and eventually learned to fight standing out in the open like idiots.
The reason volley fire worked so well at Rourke's Drift is because the Zulus were mostly armed with spears. Accurate fast loading breech loaders pretty much killed the need and the effectiveness for volley fire.