Zulu Dawn [Region 2]
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![Zulu Dawn [Region 2]](/pictures/Zulu-Dawn-Region.jpg) |
Features
• PAL
In Theaters : 15 May, 1979 |
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Zulu Dawn [Region 2] description
Cy Endfield co-wrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst defeat of the British army by natives, with the British contingent outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film's opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached manner leads to one mistake after another, and this is wryly illustrated in a moment when neither he nor his officers can be bothered to pronounce the name of the land they're in. That it's a beautiful land nonetheless is made clear by the superb cinematography, which drinks in the massive open spaces that shrink the British army to a line of red ants. Splendidly stiff-upper-lipped support comes from a heroic Burt Lancaster and a fluffy, yet gruff, Bob Hoskins. Although the story is less focused and inevitably more diffuse than the concentrated events of Rorke's Drift which followed soon after, Zulu Dawn is an unflinchingly honest depiction of British Imperial diplomacy. --Paul Tonks |
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Zulu Dawn [Region 2] Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
A historic disaster on a disastrous DVD
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"One Zulu is only one man, and I'm afeared of no one man. But the Zulu, they come in the thousands, like a black wave of death in the thousands."
Zulu Dawn isn't in the Zulu league, but if you're interested in the period and can overlook a few historical errors, it's a good addition to that curious subgenre of British epics celebrating their humiliating military defeats. In its determination to set some of the colonial myths straight it does tend to overlook the Zulus' own imperial ambitions, divided leadership and tactical stupidity, but it's well staged with an exceptionally strong cast of familiar British faces and a wildly miscast Burt Lancaster offering one of the screens worst Oirish accents. The battle's a long time coming, but is worth the wait, and the film is genuinely spectacular, with director Douglas Hickox pulling off a particularly impressive river crossing sequence to the accompaniment of Elmer Bernstein's stirring score. However, if you don't get off on troop deployments and crowd scenes of colourfully clad British soldiers on the veldt, you'll probably find it heavy going for the first hour.
Sadly, as others have noted, this is a very shoddy DVD - like the UK issue it's cropped from its original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio to 1.85:1 and with an inferior sound mix (the theatrical release prints had an excellent stereo soundtrack) and no real extras to speak of despite plenty being available. A very poor show indeed. It's worth noting, however, that the French PAL disc not only boasts a good transfer in the original 2.35:1 ratio with removeable French subtitles but also includes the theatrical trailer and is well worth seeking out if you have a multi-region player.
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Zulu Dawn [Region 2] dvd movie.