Review of Zulu (1964) by Ashley H — 18 Aug 2009

2: The highlights of the film were certainly the performances/casting and the story. Luckily, I had forgotten that the men actually survive the attack for the most part. It is a rather remarkable stand against what one could certainly call overwhelming forces.

The Zulu people are treated with respect by the filmmakers for the most part as well. The Brit's (in the broadest sense of the word) are shown in a terribly heroic and and proper light as well. To think that men could be this well mannered in a situation such as this is rather incredible.

caine is probably the highlight of the picture. His portrayal of the haughty, refined, and mannered Englishmen is spot on, quite engaging, and suitably complex. The rest of the cast performs fairly well too, although there are definite exceptions.

Obviously, a good deal of this is likely the filmmakers portrayal, but some of it can certainly be attributed to the upbringing and demeanor of this culture. One of the problems with the film for me were the battle/action sequences.

They pale in comparison to both vastly superior films of this time period and to the films of today. Action and well-orchestrated battle sequences can be difficult to do well, but the filmmakers certainly failed here on almost every level.

The editing, staging, and filming all leave something to be desired. Even action sequences made in the five decades or so prior to this using far less sophisticated techniques and equipment were vastly superior.

The entire film has such a sense of artificiality and this is not simply because of the time in which it was made. the costume design is horrendous. I doubt there were many soldiers or Zulu walking around in Natal at this time with such fancy and brand-spanking new clothing.

Apparently the filmmakers did not think to age their costumes. The same could be said for the sets and locations in general. Everything is far too bright, pretty, clean, etc to be entirely believable.

One isn't supposed to be able to tell it was done on a soundstage in this case. I hate it when you lose information due to a computer restarting. I had a nice little review of this already completed, but then lost it.

Interesting, but flawed and dated film.