Review of Zulu (2013) by Ola G — 11 Sep 2014

As a child, Ali Sokhela (Forest Whitaker) narrowly escaped being murdered by Inkhata, a militant political party at war with Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. He and his mother survived the carnage of those years. But as with many survivors, the psychological scars remain, both physically and mentally. Today, Ali is the chief of the homicide branch of the South African police in Cape Town and a man with correct subtle manners. One of his colleagues is Brian Epkeen (Orlando Bloom), a down and out detective with substance abuse problems and family issues, but a solid upholder of the law. When the corpses of two young women are found the two have to co-operate during the investigation that leeds them to a new dangerous drug that has been introduced to the residents of Cape Town. At the crossroads of violence, drugs and chaos Ali and Brian need to figure out a way to stop this evil that has hit South Africa...

"Zulu" or "Cape Town Cops" (with the latter being a silly title to be honest) is based on the real life Project Coast, a program for biological and chemical weapons during the South African apartheid regime. There´s two sides of "Zulu", one is that the setting and historical/political/social backdrop is intriguing and carries a lot of emotional values. The other side is that "Zulu" is quite stereotypical, not fully convincing (that goes for mostly Bloom, but as well for Whitaker) and the general plot line is a bit too wafer thin. In the midst I´m glad to have learned the phrase "Yebobaba", when you honour someone with respect in Africa. Yes, there´s pace, action and emotions with moments of sparks, but in the end it´s still pretty much an ordinary buddy-buddy cop revenge flick, even if it has some layers that separates it from the usual Hollywood police movies.