History Film / Zulu

Based on true events, the film is the story of a LastStand that the defenders managed to win. The Battle of Rorke's Drift was the result of the Battle of Isandlwana, at which the British expeditionary force of 2000 sent to crush the Zulus had been destroyed through a combination of skilled Zulu leadership of fearless legions of warriors [[GeneralFailure and the incompetence of British commanders.]] 139 British soldiers in a farmstead, assigned there to protect the wounded (who numbered about one third of the 139) held out against 4-5,000 Zulus for 12 hours. The battle is held to this day as one of the very best defences in all history. Eleven of the soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross (the highest possible decoration for bravery), the highest number of this medal ever awarded for a single action.

* OnlySaneMan: Several characters occupy this position. Bishop Colenso who tries to talk Bartle Frere out of starting the war. Durnford, being seemingly the only high ranking officer to understand and how to fight the Zulus. Hamilton-Brown, who is openly disgusted by Chelmsford's arrogance and refusal to tend to his soldiers' well being. Harford, who desperately tries to get reinforcements sent to the outnumbered Pulliene and is continually rebuffed, and finally reporter Norris Newman who correctly predicts exactly what's going to happen when Chelmsford splits his forces.

* SequelHook: In the final scene, as Chelmsford and his escort discover the overrun camp, Crealock informs Chelmsford that he's ridden a little way along the track that leads to Rorke's Drift -- "The sky above is red with fire," as the characters of the original film are currently fighting for their lives.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The film's version of King Cetshwayo is shown as having a good relationship with Otto With to the point of having one of his men executed to help them escape from Zululand after the outbreak of the war. The real Cetshwayo was hostile towards the Witts, and did not help them to escape but rather banished them after a falling-out.

** Averted in the case of Lietenant Bromhead, who is often described as being partially deaf. According to one of the most detailed and comprehensive books on Rorke's Drift, this seems to have been a misinterpretation of primary accounts that after the battle, Bromhead was withdrawn and quiet towards officers attached to reinforcements; these are symptoms that could just as easily be the result of PTSD (which didn't have a name in the 1870s) than deafness. That said, other sources indicate that he did have hearing problems but this did not affect his ability to command men. The line about his father having fought at Waterloo and his great-grandfather having fought with Wolfe at Quebec is historically accurate, for he was indeed the scion of a notable military family.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Henry Hook wasn't the cowardly drunk the film portrayed him as, but a model soldier. His daughter walked out of the premiere when she saw how her father was being portrayed.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: what the British and the Zulus do to each other with spears and bayonets whenever the Zulus' ZergRush manages to get through the British's [[MoreDakka dakka]].

* MoreDakka: The chief tactic of the British.

* AnachronismStew: Due to either a lack of Martini-Henry rifles or .570 blanks, a decent chunk of the weapons wielded by British forces in the film are actually anachronistic Lee-Enfield Mk. Is (introduced in 1895) with the telltale magazine removed. In a similar vein, the revolvers used by the officers are Webley Mk. VIs, which were introduced in 1915. This is due to a lack of functional Beaumont-Adams revolvers, as used in the actual battle.

* AnachronismStew: Due to either a lack of Martini-Henry rifles or .570 blanks, a decent chunk of the weapons wielded by British forces in the film are actually anachronistic Lee-Enfield Mark is with the telltale magazine removed, as well as Webley Mk. VI revolvers, not introduced until 1915. This is due to a lack of functional Beaumont-Adams revolvers used in the actual battle.

''Zulu'' is a classic 1964 war film set during the UsefulNotes/AngloZuluWar, directed by Cy Endfield and featuring Creator/MichaelCaine in his breakout film role. The cast also includes Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, Creator/PatrickMagee and James Booth. Creator/RichardBurton provides the narration for the opening and closing scenes.

* DuelWielding: Schiess dual wields his bayoneted rifle and his ''crutch''.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: While our sympathies are with the protagonists who are obviously trying to avoid being slaughtered, at the same time the film deliberately avoids vilifying the Zulu forces; they're fighting back against the Boers and the British Empire trying to take their land, and the foot soldiers are following their leaders' orders just as much as the British solders are obeying their superior officers.

''Zulu Dawn'' is a classic 1964 war film set during the UsefulNotes/AngloZuluWar, directed by Cy Endfield and featuring Creator/MichaelCaine in his breakout film role. The cast also includes Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, Creator/PatrickMagee and James Booth. Creator/RichardBurton provides the narration for the opening and closing scenes.

A classic 1964 war film set during the UsefulNotes/AngloZuluWar, directed by Cy Endfield and featuring Creator/MichaelCaine in his breakout film role. The cast also includes Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, Creator/PatrickMagee and James Booth. Creator/RichardBurton provides the narration for the opening and closing scenes.

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: The Zulus are fighting for their land, whereas the English are defending a hospital.

* EnsignNewbie: Bromhead, though in {{Real Life}} both he and Lieutenant Chard were [[InvertedTrope inversions]]: they were ''old'' for their rank, having been repeatedly [[PassedOverPromotion passed over for promotion]] as [[{{Irony}} unlikely to amount to much]]. It's often claimed that Bromhead was at least partially deaf, but the latest authoritative study of the 1879 campaign suggests this was a misinterpretation of Bromhead suffering from PTSD in the immediate aftermath of the battle.

A classic 1964 war film set during the UsefulNotes/AngloZuluWar, directed by Cy Endfield and featuring Creator/MichaelCaine in his breakout film role. The cast also includes Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, and James Booth.

* DecoyProtagonist: The film starts off with missionary Otto Witt and his daughter Margareta watching a mass Zulu marriage ceremony. You'd be forgiven for thinking that they'll be more involved in the plot of the film, especially given how prominently their actors' names (Jack Hawkins and Ulla Jacobsson) are in the credits, but the attention soon switches to the soldiers at Rourke's Drift.

** Otto Witt wasn't a pacifist (he helped the British soldiers plan their defence) or a drunk, and he only left so as to alert his family at his farm a little way away; he also wasn't a widower and had three children at the time, the oldest of whom was seven years old. Also contrary to the film's portrayal, Witt was not well-liked by the Zulu and had been banished from the Kingdom by Cesthawayo before the war broke out.

** Averted in the case of Lietenant Bromhead, who is often described as being partially deaf. According to one of the most detailed and comprehensive books on Rorke's Drift, this seems to have been a misinterpretation of primary accounts that Bromhead was withdrawn and quiet after the battle towards officers attached to reinforcements; these are symptoms that could just as easily be the result of PTSD (which didn't have a name in the 1870s) than deafness. That said, other sources indicate that he did have hearing problems but this did not affect his ability to command men. The line about his father having fought at Waterloo and his great-grandfather having fought with Wolfe at Quebec is historically accurate, for he was indeed the scion of a notable military family.

* BadVibrations: "Damn funny. It...it's like a train in the distance."

* DecoyProtagonist: The film starts off with missionary Otto Witt and his daughter Margareta watching a mass Zulu marriage ceremony. You'd be forgiven for thinking they'll be more involved in the plot of the film, but the attention soon switches to the soldiers at Rourke's Drift.

* EnsignNewbie: Bromhead, though in {{Real Life}} both he and Lieutenant Chard were [[InvertedTrope inversions]]: they were ''old'' for their rank, having been repeatedly [[PassedOverPromotion passed over for promotion]] as [[{{Irony}} unlikely to amount to much]]. It's often claimed that Bromhead was at least partially deaf, but the latest authoritative study of the 1879 campaign suggests this was a misinterpretation of Bromhead suffering PTSD in the immediate aftermath of the battle.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Henry Hook wasn't the cowardly drunk the film portrayed him as, but a model soldier.

* SequelHook: In the final scene, as Chelmsford and his escort discover the overrun camp, Crealock informs Chelmsford that he's ridden a little way along the track to Rorke's Drift -- "The sky above is red with fire," as the characters of the original film are currently fighting for their lives.

** Otto Witt wasn't a pacifist (he helped the British soldiers plan their defence) or a drunk, and he only left so as to alert his family at his farm a little while away; he also wasn't a widower and three children at the time, the oldest of whom was seven years old. Also contrary to the film's portrayal, Witt was not well-liked by the Zulu and had been banished from the Kingdom by Cesthawayo before the war broke out.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: what the British and the Zulus do to each other whenever the Zulus' ZergRush manages to get through the British's [[MoreDakka dakka]].

** The audience gets one when we see a group of Zulu warriors lying prone. Then one stands up and points at the fort...with a rifle.

* SergeantRock: Colour Sergeant Bourne provides the quote at the top of this trope's page; while usually stern with the men, he knows when to show a softer side (like comforting Private Cole when the latter is unnerved by Witt's drunken ranting, and later ensuring that Private Hitch seeks medical attention during the post-battle roll call), helps to ease the tension by [[RealMenLoveJesus quoting Psalm 46]] just before the Zulus attack, and when they ''do'' attack, he kills several of them with his bayonet [[note]] in RealLife, he was actually 23 years old at the time of Rorke's Drift and was the youngest Colour Sergeant in the British Army; for his bravery at Rorke's Drift, he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (for non-officers, the second-highest decoration after the VC) and was offered a commission but declined, although he was later commissioned, and ended his long military career as a Lieutenant-Colonel [[/note]]. Corporal Allen, although not a sergeant, also qualifies [[note]] he had actually ''been'' a sergeant but was demoted for being drunk on duty some time before Rorke's Drift; he was later promoted back to that rank [[/note]].

** The Zulus appear to be massing again to wipe out the British, but it turns out they're saluting the British for their bravery before departing for good. This is [[ArtisticLicenseHistory a small fabrication]]: in real life the Zulus left because they weren't supposed to be there in the first place -- Prince Dabulamanzi, the Zulu commander of the force that attacked Rorke's Drift, was King Cetshwayo's half-brother, and noted for his rashness and aggressive command behaviour. The attack at Rorke's Drift was actually ''a direct violation of orders from the king'', specifically that the Zulu forces were to act ''only'' in defence of Zululand, and under no circumstances to invade British-held territory. In reality, the Zulus had just disappeared by the dawn after the final attack, and only one more Zulu impi was briefly sighted by the men, retreating about an hour ahead of the British reinforcements.

* DatedHistory: The film depicts a key reason for the British defeat at Isandlwana that the soldiers ran out of ammunition because [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Quartermaster Bloomfield]] dispenses reserve bullets to soldiers in an absurdly slow, "orderly" fashion. This was widely believed when the film went into production, featuring in Donald Morris's popular book ''The Washing of the Spears'' among other accounts of the Zulu War. It appears this story is exaggerated, if not a myth; while Durnford's Native troops did ran out of ammunition, it was mostly because they had been deployed too far from the camp to ensure a steady supply of ammo, not Bloomfield's poor handling of supply.[[note]]A related myth is that Bloomfield and his aides weren't able to open the ammo boxes because the commissary had misplaced their screwdrivers; even if this had been the case, the boxes were easily broken open with rifle butts or other tools.[[/note]] Most British units closer to the main camp were able to keep up a steady stream of fire until they were overrun, as attested by both British and Zulu accounts of the battle, but their lines were spread too thin to properly defend the camp from a coordinated Zulu attack.

** The portrayal of Private Hook was so offensively wrong (in real life he was a model soldier and a teetotaler) that his daughter walked out of the film premiere.
** Otto Witt wasn't a pacifist (he helped the British soldiers plan their defence) or a drunk, and he only left so as to alert his family at his farm a little while away; he also wasn't a widower and three children at the time, the oldest of whom was seven years old.