ZULUS, THOUSANDS OF 'EM...

It made a star of Michael Caine and remains one of the greatest war films of all time… in part because it doesn’t conceal the ghastly cost of victory. As Zulu celebrates its 60th anniversary, why even anti-Apartheid campaigner Chief Buthelezi, who played his own great-grandfather on screen, was a fan

- Alec Marsh

RELEASED in cinemas 60 years ago, Zulu, didn’t just make a star of its hitherto unknown lead actor – Michael Caine, in his first major film role – it also turned the Battle of Rorke’s Drift into one of the most famous military engagements in British history. Before Zulu hit the screens in January 1964, it’s questionable how many people would have heard of this battle – let alone the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879.

But once they had seen the film – an immediate smash hit – there was no doubt.

What’s more, ever since, you could argue that the words “Rorke’s Drift” have been ingrained in the national psyche.

And that’s because this is a most extraordinary film, one that over the course of its 139-minute run-time in blazing Technicolor, brings to life the fear, the horror, the sheer human courage and, ultimately, the ghastly tragedy of a battle that took place in Natal in what is now South Africa, from January 22 to 23 precisely 145 years ago.

Shot on location in the shadow of the stunning Drakensberg Mountains, this is a tale of derringdo and heroics bar none, revealing how 140 mainly South Wales Borderers under the command of a Royal Engineers’ officer named John Chard managed to defend a tiny British mission station against repeated attacks by some 4,000 Zulus. But more than this, the film makes clear the brutal price of victory, which goes a long way towards explaining how it may, arguably, be the greatest war film of all time.

Yes, it takes certain liberties with the truth – there was no regimental choir and Private Henry Hook, played as a rebellious, thieving drunk on-screen by James Booth, was a model soldier (causing his elderly daughters to walk out of the premiere in disgust) – but the overall thrust of the story is correct.