Zulu Dawn
|
List Price: Our Price: $9.99 You Save: $9.99 (50%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Zulu Dawn
Movie Review: Zulu Dawn
Summary: 5 Stars
The VHS tape was in excellent condition. I was very impressed with the swift delivery time.Movie Review: Zulu Dawn
Summary: 5 Stars
Product arrived timely, and in perfect condition. I would recommend this seller to others.Movie Review: everything old is new again
Summary: 4 Stars
history is filled with repetitive stories of martyred heros giving their lives for a nation's freedom. dien bien phu, the alamo, pearl harbor, viet nam 1975, berlin 1945, little big horn and on and on. each of these tales tells of individual sacrifice willingly given up so that others 'may live free'. such stories are inspiring and heartwarming and seldom fail to fill one's heart w/national pride.
another perspective to such thrilling story telling is one of deceit, lies, incompetence and cover-up. irresponsibility, intellectual sloth, greed, political self-serving, paranoia, class contempt for one's own countrymen, belief in racial superiority and myopic fear may very well be a more accurate take on 'doomed heroics' aka defeat.
this second perspective is the real story of "zulu dawn", the story of the english defeat at the hands of the zulu nation at isandlwana in 1879. in "zulu dawn" british leadership and its ritual masked arrogance sends its own countrymen, primarily uneducated poor, to their deaths because of that leadership's refusal to acknowledge the intelligence of its own non-english allies or to credit the ability of its opponents, the zulu.
a recent viewing of this film draws an errie parallel to not only the various events stated at the beginning of this review but also to current events occurring in iraq and afghanistan.
some of the production faults pointed out in other reviews do hold true but those faults are minor to the real message of the film, that of the arrogance of power and its institutionalized lack of responsibillity.
less a film about isandlwana than the follies of imperialism.
fine example of history repeating itself, uncanny how it preceeds some Review: A grand view of colonial warfare
Summary: 4 Stars That sums it up well. 3 years after Custer and less than 300 troopers died at the hands of 4,000 Souix, more than 1,200 British infantry with artillery were slaughtered by 20,000 natives armed with little more than spears.
To look at the film is sweeping. Done before CGI there are inspired images of lines of red coated infantry on distant hill sides and masses of Zulu impi's like a black tide that will sweep all before it.
Yes there are historical errors, but that shouldn't detract from the enjoyment of this film. It's imagrey is sweeping and well worth the effort.
The only down side is that in bending so far and so inaccurately to depict the British commanders as compelte nitwits, it detracts from the true achievements of the Zulu's who fought and died that day. The 20,000 Zulu's at Isandlawana rushed into the mouth of British fire and suffered such losses that their king declared "An asagai has been plunged into the belly of the nation." And yet they pressed on.
The movie makes the British look so inept one suspects a militant girl scout troop could have driven them off. In fact the defeat of the 24th foot and its attendent units was a hard fought victory that any peoples could have been proud of.
Movie Review: A great MOVIE, not a History
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an excellent movie, Bob Hoskins performance as the Colour Sergeant alone make the film worth watching. I am glad to finally see it on DVD as my tape version has nearly worn out. However it suffers in perpetuating old myths such as the lids on the ammunition boxes being screwed down as a major cause for the disaster for the British (these boxes were only made of wood and would quickly have yielded to one rifle butt being applied with vigor). Also it is interesting to note that this battle is made into a much greater Zulu victory then in fact it was. While no doubt inflicting a devastating blow to the British, it was a very pyrrhic victory at best to the Zulus, who took very heavy casualties they could ill afford. The film does not mention or explore Catayweo's own comment on hearing of the battle that "An Assegie has been thrust into the heart of the Zulu people".
Enjoy the movie for what it is, a movie with some great performances, but for the history of this battle read some of the excellent books available; particularly by Ian Knight.