by Cromwell Films

Managed to purchase a copy. You get for your money (œ14.95) 1 hour 5 minutes of video and a booklet of 94 pages listing the events of the war and including some nice black and white period artist drawings.

The video starts with a lead up to the war and concentrates on the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift, using film footage of Zulu Dawn only (whatever has happened to that film?). The reconstructions used by the video centre on Rorke's Drift, a portion of the barricade and part of the action in the hospital, and I have to say the uniforms and the fighting in the hospital are nicely done.

The only minus point are the Zulu actors who look as if they have a fan belt on their heads representing the marriage ring, and it would be childish of me to mention the Zulu warrior wearing the black pants who fell dead so convincingly.

The video uses pictures and paintings as visual aids whilst the narrator speaks, unfortunately the use of many of the pictures does not lend itself to the story which is another minus point, especially when there are so many pictures/paintings available that could have been used.

The 3D graphics are briefly used to illustrate the battle of Isandiwana but unfortunately the description of the battle is one of a very basic understanding and the emphasis is put heavily on the ammunition theory and ignores all the other factors, such as poor deployment.

It is easy to criticise something you fortunately know a lot about, so in summary I would suggest that if you are new to the Zulu War it could help you in getting a background to it. If you are already totally hooked, buy a copy -- if only for the brief reconstruction sequences. If you know all about the war and are not interested in any.

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