"Zulu" - made in 1964 (the year of my birth) is run
pretty regularly on both the History Channel and Turner Classic
movies. It stars Stanley Baker and Michael Caine as two British
Army lieutenants in
Africa and goes on to dramatize the story of Rorke's Drift in
the Natal province. At Rorke's Drift, in the 1870s, a contingent
of 150 Welsh soldiers were trapped in a converted mission station
which they were garrisoning as a supply base and hospital. A
British army column of 1200 had been massacred by an overwhelming
force of Zulus at Isandhlwana earlier in the day. The film
chronicles the frenzied defense of the mission by the contingent
against 4,000 Zulus. At end, the Rorke's Drift defense resulted
in 11 Victoria Crosses, the most ever awarded for an action in
one day.
The film remains a standard bearer for several reasons,
including close-action battle photography, sweeping and memorable
vistas of the African landscape, the tight scripting of at least
20 supporting characters, and the adult handling of the culture
clash between Brit and Zulu with no intrusive moral lessonry.
This is a movie about these men in this battle at this time, not
about the big bad white man exploiting the proud, wise black man.
It is aided by a memorable John Barry score. As historical war
films go, this is the best or tied with "Breaker Morant."
Next time you see it on television, try and catch it, and you'll
be treated to a taut classic.
My favorite line is after the first wave of Zulu warriors is
repelled by the Brits, and Caine says, "60!, we got at least
60 wouldn't you say?" and another character wryly replies
"That leaves only 3,940."
