Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 38,767
Really good film.
I thought the first 10 minutes was the best part. I read the synopsis of the story before watching, and was kind of surprised that this would be favorite here in the lounge. It sounded like a movie celebrating British expansion and a small number of soldiers killing a much larger group of savages.
The first 10 minutes completely does away with that. The wedding ceremony is a beautifully shot scene, and the song is beautiful as well. The conversation between the preacher and his daughter shows that the Zulus are a respectable people with their own culture, and even some of the bad things in their culture are similar to those in England.
This scene really turns the movie into more of a celebration for discipline and martial prowess, but not a celebration of violence. It's really a beautiful film and has some great lines.
Along this same line of thought, the person who knows the Zulu tactics is pretty essential to the film. His explaining what the Zulus are doing really shows the discipline of the Zulu people, I think the biggest example is where the Zulus are counting the British guns. Without his commentary the scene would be too confusing, and I think people would just mistake the Zulus for being savages and getting shot at without doing anything in return.
I also felt the action scenes were lacking, and thought the director probably wasn't used to working with anything on this scale. It seemed like several of the scenes were just too large for the choreography, for example a bayonet would be stabbing someone in front of the camera, but in the background people would be running around just kind of aimlessly. It also lost all meaning when they fell back to the redoubt because the outer defense was getting overrun, when every scene it's overrun and the Zulus just run past the soldiers. These close up action scenes were the worst and just really "Hollywood" in general. I disliked the one guy taking out four or five Zulus with his crutch in one hand and a rifle in another. I also disliked the commander taking a wound, wandering around aimlessly for awhile, and then just deciding that he was alright after all.
As mentioned, the best action scene by far was the line push by the British soldiers. It showed the discipline of the soliders, the tactics of the time, and also how the British commanders kept their cool and handled the situation. The scene immediately following was probably my favorite scene other than the opening as well. The awkward silence, the two commanders now filthy looking across at each other, and then the water being brought out. Everything following this scene was really fantastic.
Anyways just some random thoughts about the movie. I'm glad that this was recommended as it's an area of history I'd never thought to learn about before. Since watching I've read up on a few wikipedia articles on Chelmsford's invasion and the movie as well. Sounds like a pretty tragic story with really Chelmsford's own ambition being the only reason for it. It's also sad about Hook's relatives and his portrayal in the film. Still really a great film though and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks for recommending it.