A great flick, documenting a desperate stand against overwhelming odds.
Posted on 07/10/2022 9:28:05 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Zulu is the sort of film that it's become imprudent, even inadvisable, to write about. Nearly six decades since it was released, its subject matter – a battle between white colonial troops and an African army – would certainly never be attempted by a filmmaker today, and certainly not in the same manner as it was in 1964, which it's worth remembering is as far away from us today as the Civil War was from the first stirrings of the Roaring Twenties.
(These temporal comparisons are facile, to be sure, though we've certainly seen as radical a social transformation in the last six decades as the stunning technological changes that happened between the presidencies of Lincoln and Coolidge.)
When it was released, Zulu was billed as a spectacle, an epic action picture that delivered the sort of widescreen thrills that television was two generations from capably providing. Even then, it was made at probably the last plausible moment for this sort of unironic celebration of valour by British redcoats on a foreign field; Tony Richardson's The Charge of the Light Brigade, released just four years later, would cast a far more acerbic eye on another celebrated instance of Victorian military bravery, reflecting the cultural sea change that had happened on either side of the '6
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A great flick, documenting a desperate stand against overwhelming odds.
Oh my gosh, the redoubt scene! First row, fire! Second row, fire! Third row, fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Just unreal.
Have watched it many times. 150 vs. 4000, just mind-boggling.
Bfl
These lyrics were written for the movie.
I watched Zulu for the first time about 2 months ago. I was blown away by how good that was and how it demonstrated the tactics they used to destroy a superior force.
Hey America - it’s 10:00 - let’s see what the left is upset about now!
Colour Sergeant Bourne had the best lines.
Pvt. Cole : Why is it us? Why us?
Colour Sergeant Bourne : Because we’re here, lad. Nobody else. Just us.
____________________________________________________________
Colour Sergeant Bourne : A prayer’s as good as bayonet on a day like this.
“They have a good bass, but no tenor”
A similar movie is Siege of Jadotville, about “a small contingent of Irish troops serving as part of the United Nations Operation in the Congo.” (quote from Wikipedia)
Part of the plot includes the death of Dag Hammerskjold, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The UN was evil from the very beginning.
I have this film on DVD and although it does take many historical liberties it is, nevertheless, definitely worth a watch.
Thank you. I didn’t know the lyrics were specific to the movie.
Here's a video with the original lyrics: Link
Can't beat a Welsh male choir.
The prequel, Zulu Dawn from 1979 is also a stirring film of British heroism, albeit as displayed during a disastrous defeat.
Actually one of the greatest war movies ever. It doesn’t take a particularly astute observer to note that the Zulus were fairly depicted as honorable men fighting against a technologically advanced enemy for their homeland.
This point was actually made right up front in the first... Say 20 minutes or so. Anyone who has seen Zulu will know what I’m referring to. The ending is actually tragic for them, but one must suppose that’s always the case in war for both victor and vanquished.
Those guys in Zulu Dawn should have shot that quartermaster and gone on to face the consequences.
Zulu is just a modern rendition of the 300 Spartans holding off the Persian army. It is just an underdog story of heroism and survival.
The movie was filmed in South Africa at the height of apartheid. By law the actors playing the Zulus, many of whom were descendants of the warriors who fought in the war, could not be paid the same as the white actors. To get around it, once the movie was over all the cattle and horses used in the movie were given to the Zulu tribes.
I love this movie but haven’t seen it in many years. I do hope it will come back on TCM. Also I love the Naked Prey with Cornel Wilde..
It’s been on the Roku channel if you have Roku. Very good movie.
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