When I first watched Zulu at my grandparents house, I thought it was one of the best war movies I had ever seen. Seriously. I even went as far as to add it to my 'Significant Films' list. Well, I've watched Zulu a few times since then, and even though I still really like it, I have since removed it from my 'Significant Films' list. That being said, Zulu is not for sure a defying piece of cinema either. But as far as I am concerned, it makes for a very entertaining war film.
The movie recounts the critical Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879 during the Zulu War. British troops have been slaughtered at the previous Battle of Isandlwana, and the Zulu army surges foward, pinning down 140 British soldiers in the mission station of Rorke's Drift. With the main part of the British army not being able to make it time, the 140 British soldiers are on their own. Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine) takes command as he is senior to Lieutenant John Chard (Stanley Baker) and leads the nimble and light defense against an overwhelming force of over 4,500 Zulus.
The standout in Zulu are the several, very-well choegraphed battle sequences. About 50 minutes of the film is spent on preparing the defenses; the remaining 80 or so minutes are nonstop battle sequences, all of which are extremely well done and, simply put, some of the best battle sequences I have ever seen put on film. For example, in the Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers, the climatic end battle at Helm's Deep is actually based off of the battle scenes in Zulu!
In addition, Zulu makes for an entertaining historical war drama. Caine, in one of his first major film roles, does simply, for a first time in a starring role, not a bad job. In fact, he actually does a pretty good job. Baker is less appealing then Caine in this movie, and in addition, I thought Caine did a better job.
Now, you might be thinking, why did I not denote Zulu a full five-star rating? The answer is that it's not quite a complete masterpiece. I stated in the first paragraph of my review that this is not a defying piece of cinema, meaning I can think of quite a few other movies that are more brilliant pieces of movie making. The direction by Cy Endfield isn't especially outstanding either, though still not bad.
But through it all, I highly recommend that you watch Zulu because this will give you a different kind of war film to look at. And quite frankly, on terms of a 'different kind of war film', you might not find any better done then Zulu.
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