Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

clanciai No praise is enough for this film. It is realistic cinema at its best concerning every single detail, from each individual soldier, the epic environment settings, the drama about the priest and his daughter, John Barry's terrific music, the constantly sustained almost unbearable suspense - many scenes are absolutely quiet and the most exciting ones as they always introduce something, - and above all, the overwhelmingness of the Zulu warriors. This all happened for real, and here cinema fulfills its highest mission in recreating and transmitting it all correctly. They are all ordinary men, Stanley Baker and Michael Caine are just ordinary soldiers, the priest is like any scared priest, his daughter (the only woman in the film) perfectly natural in her hysterics, and even in the baracks the soldiers and patients couldn't be more down to earth. This is cinema and cinematography at its most perfectly best - and a film difficult to transcend in excellence.

arfdawg-1 The Plot:Two Lieutenants, Chard of Engineers and Bromhead find that their 140 man contingent in Natal has been isolated by the destruction of the main British Army column and that 4,000 Zulu warriors will descend on them in hours. Each has a different military background in tactics and they are immediately in conflict on how to prepare for the attack. Nearly a third of the men are in the infirmary, as the welsh company tries to somehow survive with no help in sight. Based on a true story.The first half of this film is boring beyond belief. Then there's a brief fight scene. Then it gets really boring again. Then there's a really boring fight scene with lots of talking.Getting the picture? This is a movie that looks good (technicolor) and the scenery is spectacular, but Jesus, the story is a borefest.

mcguin71 Zulu is a fine example of what a war movie should be. There's no attempt at tying in unnecessary back story's, oddly misplaced romances, or blood & guts and cgi action and explosions for the sole sake of transitory visual impact as opposed story.Unfortunately few modern films of the genre can match the classics of the 50s and 60s when the story was #1 and the money makers of marketing departments were there to sell the film on merit as opposed to mere profitability - Saving Private Ryan is one good example of a recent film that makes the grade, Pearl Harbour tells the 'Hollywood war story' where truth falls behind a sloppy badly after romance (Those who worked on Tora! Tora! Tora! - a vastly superior movie of the same events - must be turning in their graves!)The mention of Tora! Tora! Tora! is deliberate. Its from the era of film where both story and events were displayed from a realistic human point of view as opposed to what can be rewritten and shown through CGI. Here just as in Tora! both sides in the Battle of Rourkes drift are accurately displayed as brave, valiant warriors but not without human flaws. There's no attempt to portray the natives as a 'lesser savage animal' but merely as an alternative representation of the warrior spirit. It may be noted just how little gore is shown in any scene compared to modern equivelents, probably as this is about the battle not how much blood is on show in an attempt to crave notoriety amongst potential audiences. Death, and killing, is not treated as a game and whilst each army treats individual losses differently they both respect the sacrifices made by their own as well as the others sides warriors. What you certainly do not see is gloating over kills.The acting is good, and despite the inevitable screen treatment is based upon solid characters following scripts and scenes that closely match records of the original battle - being a true life battle its nice to see it not sugar coated with incredible feats of heroism written to suit, or trying to demonstrate the absurd notion that this was somehow a naive uneducated native contingent up against obviously superior regular colonial armyAs noted by others this wasn't a battle where either side came out as definitive winner or loser. The film follows as there is no victory celebrations simply a mutual respect as the two sides part ways. There's nothing patriotic in the movie about how the British slaughtered the miscreant natives and the viewer is left in no doubt that had the battle continued losses would have been very great on the Zulu side, but absolute on the British - anyone winning this battle would no longer have been an effective unit and thus worthy of bragging rights. ... Just for once its nice to sit back and watch a realistic war movie, based on real event, without mass cgi, consulted and unnecessary subplots - or worse still rewriting history to ensure specific characters are standup hero's, both real and worst still people who are inventions of the writers minds!This is how it should be done - and it was all done by the British about the British in a battle they didn't win in a war they aren't proud of.

MattyGibbs Zulu is in my opinion the best war film ever. A small contingent of British soldiers hold out against a massive Zulu army in 1879. It's a true story and pretty accurate though understandably some liberties were almost certainly taken by the film makers. I have rarely seen another film that doesn't waste a single scene. The pacing is perfect, the battle scenes although not as bloody as modern day epics are well done and it entertains from start to perfect finish. There are so many memorable scenes and characters that this is one film that really does repay repeated viewings. For me though what really elevates this film above most others is the acting. Rarely can any film have encouraged such strong performances from every member of the cast even down to the smallest part. Stanley Baldwin is great, Michael Caine puts in a career best performance, William Booth is charismatic as the wayward Hook but for me the highlight is Nigel Green as Colour Sergeant Bourne the embodiment of an British soldier. Zulu is a triumph of film making from start to finish and I am amazed that such a good film doesn't earn a higher rating than 7.8 on here. My children both under 10 have just watched it and loved it, for a film that is 50 years old that it great testament to it's class and staying power. Simply one of the best films of all time.