Synopsis
On January 22-23, 1879, a regiment of some 150 British soldiers, South Wales Borderers, posted at the mission station Rorke's Drift, Natal (a province of South Africa), successfully defend themselves against some 4,000 Zulu warriors. Lt. John Chard R.E. (Baker) is the regiment's commanding officer, with Lt. Gonville Bromhead (Caine) his second in command.
Opening with a short scene (narrated by Richard Burton) of hundreds of dead British soldiers after the battle of Isandlwana, the location shifts to a Zulu village where a marriage ceremony is uniting hundreds of couples. Missionary Otto Witt (Hawkins) and his daughter (Jacobsson) witness the ceremony and observe a messenger bringing news of the British defeat. The Zulus prepare to attack the mission station. The reverend and his daughter rush off to warn the soldiers. Chard sends the Witts away as the fighting starts, saying the Zulu will not harm the clergyman.
The British decide to defend the mission and prepare for the coming battle. The Zulu are heard before they are seen, and the first view is daunting. Thousands of warriors line the bluffs above the station. Soon the Zulu, armed with spears, are attacking in waves. The soldiers line the walls firing their rifles into the attacking lines of warriors. Soldiers hospitalized in the medical clinic fight Zulu warriors attempting to enter through the walls and roof. In the midst of the fighting, the doctor and his orderlies care for the wounded. In-between attacks, the Zulu fall back, regroup and charge again. Chard employs various tactical formations to meet each new wave. Finally, after numerous repulses and many deaths, the Zulu withdraw. Eleven of the defenders are awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the action.
Discussion
In 1958, John Prebble wrote a story about the battle at Rorke’s Drift. Director Cy Endfield was attracted to the story as the basis for a film, and he and Prebble cowrote the screenplay. The resulting film is a rousing and controversial film commemorating imperialistic British troops fighting to establish colonial rule. Endfield and Stanley Baker had wanted to make the film for some years before production began. Baker, proud of his Welsh heritage, was particularly concerned with emphasizing the bravery and skill of the Welshmen of the South Wales Borderers regiment. (Baker was evidently willing to stretch historical accuracy to make this point. The number of Welsh soldiers in the 24th Regiment of Foot — which was not called the South Wales Borderers until several years after the battle — stationed at Rorke's Drift is greatly exaggerated.)
Filmed in Natal Province, South Africa, near where the battle occurred, the setting provides for some impressive scenes. The Zulu are heard before they are seen, their chant while marching sounding like the chugging of a giant train. Looking up, the soldiers see thousands of warriors slowly forming a line along the ridge tops. The Zulus, rising out of gullies, charge across a treeless terrain. Although presented realistically and as courageous warriors, the Zulus are not individualized. Only Chief Buthelezi, playing the Zulu king Cetshwayo, has any lines.
Apartheid presented difficulties during production. The racist policies imposed by
the South African government affected the employment of the Zulus; they had to be
paid at lower rates than whites, and fraternization
between the races had
to be kept to a minimum. At its release, the South African censors designated the
movie as not fit for African consumption.
To save money, scenes of fighting inside the medical clinic's wards were filmed in a studio in England. James Booth, despite a major role as Private Henry Hook, one of the recipients of the Victoria Cross, never traveled to South Africa. The role of Hook had been intended for Michael Caine before Endfield offered him the more important role of Bromhead. The film is the most significant credit Booth's filmography, who appeared in British and American movies and television series for forty years.
Ivor Emmanuel, Welsh singer and actor, has a substantial supporting role. His most
memmorable scene occurs near the end of the film. As the thousands of Zulus
prepare for another charge, they chant rhythmically and beat their shields. The
waiting soldiers listen uneasily; Baker wants them to respond. He asks Emmanuel,
whose character is a member of the regiment’s choir, if
the Welsh can't do better than that.
Emmanuel responds that the Zulu have
a very good bass section…but no top tenors
and begins to sing
Men of Harlech
(with lyrics written for the film). Baker commands all the
soldiers to sing, and they are singing as the Zulu charge. Emmanuel appeared
frequently on television and made only this one film, but the role overshadowed
everything else in his career.
Composer John Barry wrote a stirring musical score, adding the power of his music to the film's surges of battle. Barry, the winner of five Academy Awards, was at the beginning of his highly successful career when commissioned by producer Baker to write the score for the film.
TCM Film Festival, 2014
Zulu was shown as part of the Discoveries
theme at the TCM
Classic Film Festival in 2014. The guest speaker was Alex Trebek, host of the
television game show Jeopardy. Trebek discussed Michael Caine's
career. In his youth, Caine enjoyed going to the movies. His favorite actors
included Hollywood stars Robert Taylor, Clark Gable, Tyrone Power and Humphrey
Bogart. He began acting after joining a youth center. At a basketball practice, he
saw a girl named Amy Wood go into a room, he looked in and joined the drama class
meeting there. At age nineteen, he was conscripted to Korea. After his return, he
made his first credited appearabce in Hell in Korea (1956),
costarring with Harry Andrews, Stephen Boyd, and Stanley Baker. In 1963, Caine,
appearing in a play, was visited in his dressing room by Stanley Baker and Cy
Endfield, who offered him the role of Hook in Zulu. Endfield then
asked Caine get up and walk away, and later called back to offer the role of the
posh English gentleman Bromhead. The film brought Caine to the attention of
producers and audiences.
Trebek also traced the history of wars in South Africa. The Dutch had arrived in the 17th century, and the Boers, descendants of the Dutch colonists, set up a republic. The Zulu had their own kingdom. The British, although later arrivals, were determined to create a federation out of the Boer republics, the Kingdom of Zululand, and various independent tribes. The Boers rebelled against British annexation in 1877, and two Anglo-Boer wars followed until British sovereignty was established in 1902. The British wanted to bring the Zulu Kingdom into the federation, and were willing to instigate a war to do it. British troops entered Zululand in January 1879, and several particularly bloody battles occurred. The opening Zulu victory at Isandlwana resulted in the deaths of 1,400 British troopers. 4,000 Zulus then raided the border post of Rorke's Drift. The post was successfully defended after ten hours of ferocious fighting. A second invasion of Zululand in June 1879 produced British victory and ended Zulu independence.
Further Reading