Shaka Zulu

Starring:Edward Fox, Robert Powell, Trevor Howard, Fiona Fullerton, Christopher Lee, Henry Cele, Dudu Mkhize, Roy Dotrice, Gordon Jackson, Kenneth Griffith, Conrad Magwaza, Patrick Ndlovu, Roland Mqwebu, Gugu Nxumalo, Tu Nokwe, Vuyisile Bojana, Bingo Bentley, Simon Sabela, Sam Williams, Alex Heyns
Director: Joshua Sinclair, William C. Faure
Studio: Vidmark / Trimark
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This sweeping miniseries from 1986 captures the rise and fall of an African emperor. Shaka Zulu begins following a British expedition sent to bargain with the fearsome Zulu army assembling on the outer edges of the British colonies in South Africa. Led by Lt. Francis Farewell (The Day of the Jackal, A Bridge Too Far), the expedition hopes to bamboozle a superstitious primitive, but their arrogance gets taken down a notch by a cunning and ruthless warlord who has unified vast territories through a combination of political charisma and military discipline. At this point, the focus shifts to how Shaka (the riveting Henry Cele), king of the Zulus, rose from a brutal childhood to royal grandeur--a semi-mythological tale filled with family strife, political intrigue, witchcraft, and bloody warfare. Powerful performances by Cele and Dudu Mikhize (as Shaka's iron-willed mother, Nandi) give this sprawling epic the drive and emotional scope of a Shakespearean drama. Shaka Zulu also draws sneaky parallels between the Zulu and British empires, often to sharp satirical effect. Full of richly conceived characters and compelling political maneuvering, this eight-hour series brings faraway history to living, breathing life. Also featuring Christopher Lee (whose always-steady career exploded at age 79 with juicy roles in The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars: Episode II, Attack of the Clones). --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

A Masterful Miniseries.......2007-04-10

This one is great. It is well done in terms of story, action and historicity. It takes liberties but it well conveys the legend of Shaka, the king that transformed the Zulus from a minor tribe into a major power.

The backdrop of the series is a colonial government that is worried about the power and threat of the Zulus. Since the colonial office is in a parsimonious mood, funds are not available for sending troops. Instead, an officer of the royal navy is sent to make contact with Shaka in order to try and make a friendly alliance. This officer is played by Edward Fox.

Fox and his band make contact with Shaka but start off at a disadvantage since they are themselves shipwrecked. Even so, they manage to pique Shaka's curiosity and become his valued assets as well as being his prisoners. During the course of this, a series of episodes are used as flashbacks to explain how Shaka came to power.

The series is fascinating. It relies on legend and on history. Many of the actors are big names but most of them have only cameo roles. The real stars are the Zulus, particularly Henry Cele (as Shaka) who are telling their own story. There are ten fascinating hours.

Shaka Zula Complete Miniseries.......2007-01-25

I purchased Shaka Zula - The Complete Mimiseries on DVD's for my Dad who has this movie on a VHS tape from when this series originally aired. My Dad loves this movie, and needless to say the VHS tape has started to jump and wear and did not have much life left in it. He was receiving a new DVD player for Christmas so I purchased Shaka Zulu on DVD for him. Dad has raved about the quality and this set has the whole miniseries (all 8 hours) which he is thrilled with. If your looking for the original miniseries this is it. Thank You. Denise L.

Mistic warrior.......2007-01-16

I still havent open the package but it is a very interesting series. I saw them many years ago in a weekly special.

Quite rewarding!.......2007-01-13

When Nandi and her unborn child are saved by the ancient witch doctor, he proclaims: "A force has been generated that in time will rock the foundation of the African sub-continent."

Indeed the prophecy shaped the event and Shaka was the ruthless founder of southern Africa's Zulu Empire... In less than a decade, the paramount chieftain of the Zulu clan revolutionized the techniques of tribal warfare and fashioned an efficient and terrifying fighting force that devastated the entire region...

Set against the emergence of British power in Africa during the early 19th Century, the film provides some valuable insights into comparative cultures...

Shaka (Henry Cele) is a man of considerable height, thin, with athletic body and white teeth who can read and write... He is a great warrior, tactically, strategically and physically... He rearms his army with a long-bladed, short-shafted stabbing spear, which forced them to fight at close quarters... He goes for extermination, incorporating the remnants of the clans he smashed into the Zulu, making it increase with numbers and power..

The Mini-Series begins with a letter to the British king (George IV) regarding the Zulus' potential threat to the Cape Colony... In an attempt to intimidate Shaka into an alliance with the British empire, the Secretary of War sends a delegation to inner African to meet with the fearful warrior...

We see :

- The meeting of Nandi, an orphaned princess of the neighboring Langeni clan and Senzangakona, the chief of the then small Zulu tribe... They are instantly attracted to each other... Nandi becomes pregnant, at the same time as Kona's wife, but the marriage did not last... Their marriage violated Zulu custom, and the stigma of this extended to the child...

- The couple separated when Shaka was six, and Nandi took her son back to the Langeni, where he passed a fatherless boyhood among a people who despised his mother and made him the butt of endless cruel pranks... He grew up to be bitter and angry, hating his tormentors... The Langeni drove Nandi out, and she finally found shelter with the Dletsheni, a subclan of the powerful Mtetwa...

- Shaka ruled with an iron hand from the beginning, distributing instant death for the slightest opposition...

- While en route to Shaka's capital, the crew's doctor saves a girl who is in a coma and nearly buried alive by her tribe... Impressed by both the deed and their horses, Shaka agrees to meet with the crew... And so begins the clash of two cultures, two different worlds...

- Shaka, seriously wounded for saving an unknown warrior (King Dingiswayo), is nursed to health by a beautiful Mtwetwa girl...

- Shaka, believing in total annihilation, joins the Mtwetwa army and creates a dangerous weapon for the African warfare...

- Shaka grants Port Natal, with its ivory rights, to the British crew after he is saved by the crew's doctor from an assassination attempt...

- Shaka's mighty army saving the British delegation in a battle against thousands of Ndwandwe warriors... To test the alliance and allegiance of the British delegation, Shaka orders them into battle alone against the Ndwandwe warriors...

- With his mother's death Shaka becomes openly psychotic... Thousands are killed in the initial paroxysm of his grief... All women found pregnant are slain with their husbands...

- Shaka rules by the sheer force of his personality, building, by scores of daily executions, a fear so profound that he could afford to ignore it...

Set against the spectacular panorama of the Zulu tribal homelands, and with graphic violence and frequent nudity, "Shaka Zulu" is a tremendous epic Mini-Series, chronicling the rise and fall of one of the most famous South Africans who has already passed into legend...

Shaka Zulu.......2007-01-12

I loved the, movie. It is great for the use of education from an unbiased perspective. It gives a great representation of the culture of the tribe. the DVDs are good quality too.

Zulu Wars: Shaka-King of the Zulu/Blood River/Red Coat Black Blood

Average customer rating:

Zulu Wars
Essential for Zulu War Enthusiasts!!

Zulu Wars: Shaka-King of the Zulu/Blood River/Red Coat Black Blood
Starring: Zulu Wars Trilogy
Manufacturer: Good Times Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

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Zulu Dawn
Shaka Zulu - The Complete Miniseries
Zulu
The Wild Geese (30th Anniversary Edition)
The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879

ASIN: B0000C506S
Release Date: 2003-11-25

Customer Reviews:

Zulu Wars.......2006-01-15

Excellent ! The complete story in an entertaining documentary form. John Hurt's narration is the best. NT

Essential for Zulu War Enthusiasts!!.......2004-02-29

If you are a fan of the Zulu and Zulu Dawn movies, this is a DVD that you should own. Mind you, it is a documentary feature, but it is extremely well done. History buffs in general should love it. The production values are outstanding, the narration by John Hurt is excellent, and there are commentaries by Ian Knight, surely, for we Americans, the leading expert and writer on the Zulu Wars. The great majority of the trio of features consist of live action reproduction, brialliantly acted, and filmed on location in South Africa. I hesitated before buying this, as I had never caught it on the Learning or History channels, there were no extant reviews, and the packaging did not initially inspire confidence. However, my hunch paid off, and this outstanding little gem is worth every penny.

Average customer rating:

This movie is an insult
A Disappointment
Means well but ends horribly
Disappointed
It might have been good before Hollywood got a hold of it.

Shaka Zulu - Last Great Warrior
Starring: Roger Alborough , Karen Allen , Linda Batista , Niven Boyd , and Henry Cele
Director: Joshua Sinclair
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Shaka Zulu - The Complete Miniseries
Zulu Wars: Shaka-King of the Zulu/Blood River/Red Coat Black Blood
Zulu Dawn
Shaka Zulu
Zulu

ASIN: B0007PALUC
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Customer Reviews:

This movie is an insult.......2007-06-07

This movie is horrible. Don't buy it. I am lucky to have looked at a friend's copy. It insults the memory of the great Shaka Zulu. It must have been painful for Celes to act in this silly movie
which makes no historical sense.

A Disappointment.......2007-03-22

I really enjoyed the Shaka Zulu miniseries which featured this same cast. For that reason I was expecting more of the same. I got the same cast but I did not get the same enjoyment. This one was not worth much.

The story is of the furthering encroachment by the English and the Boers into the Zulu kingdom. Shaka is not a king to be trifled with and is in many way "primitive" but that does not keep him from sophisticated thinking as well. He is portrayed as a great leader of his people who can be violent but who is also willing and indeed eager to learn new things. So much they got right.

A great part of this story tells of Shaka being betrayed and captured by slavers. He vows vengeance but tempers that vengeance because of the example of an Englishwoman who shows him kindness. This part of the story is very simplistic and is dramatically flat. So too is most of the rest of the story. The one good acting job in this sequel is that of the title role. He tries to portray the complexity of the character. The rest are one dimensional.

Means well but ends horribly.......2007-03-22

This movie is pretty hard to watch for anyone who likes a good drama or historical movies. Every scene was over the top and tried its best to make you care. Miss Farewell and Cpt. Prentice falling in love is nausiating. Yet, this tacky scene is trumped by the pitiful image of Grace Jones dead, sitting up with eyes open!!!!, because her man, Shaka Zulu, was away too long! The only highlights of the movie are the scenes where Shaka kicks butt and saves the day. The downside to that is the action scenes are so off the wall there's no point in saying it is based on a true story. Ex1-Shaka runs across Africa, on foot!, to kill a rivile king. Ex2-Shaka breaks the slave shackels from his wrists and takes over a slave ship single handed!
It's one of those you have to see once to tell people it's nothing like the real miniseries movies.
For the record, one of the worst sequels ever made. Should not be allowed to have the name "Shaka Zulu" on the cover!

Disappointed.......2007-02-01

This is not the movie I was expecting. I thought it would be the film I saw on TV several years ago.

It might have been good before Hollywood got a hold of it........2006-12-14

It must have been completly exhausting for Henry Cele to carry this movie for an hour and a half. You rarely see such true stage presence. It's too bad it was wasted in this movie. It gave a few shining monments of social criticism on the English colonial system and slave trade, but spent the rest of the time mooning over the weak romantic subplot.

Average customer rating:

Comments and then Reviews
Absolutely bloodcurdling
Get the Complete Miniseries instead!
An interesting take on an amazing person!
Fabulous epic story.

Shaka Zulu
Starring: Edward Fox , Robert Powell , Trevor Howard , Fiona Fullerton , and Christopher Lee
Director: William C. Faure
Manufacturer: Vidmark / Trimark
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Shaka Zulu - Last Great Warrior
Shaka Zulu - The Complete Miniseries
Roots
Zulu Dawn
Let's Do It Again

ASIN: B00003BDXK
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Amazon.com

South African director William C. Faure (who died in 1994) originally created Shaka Zulu as a 1983 miniseries broadcast in the U.K. Later released for theaters, this is the best-known biography of, and certainly one of the longest narratives about, the legendary Zulu warrior-king, Shaka. The story follows Shaka's life in detail from his illegitimate birth around 1787 to a commoner, Nandi, through his tormented childhood at the Zulu court. Virtually disowned by his father Senzangakhona, the scrawny and introverted Shaka grows into a tall, commanding presence played by Henry Cele (The Ghost and the Darkness and The Light in the Jungle). Cele's subtle but powerful performance is fundamental to the impact of this epic--which, though slow here and there, commands our attention and humanizes the legend of Shaka appealingly. After proving himself a worthy warrior and rising in the ranks of a necessarily more militant society, Shaka lends his influential support to King Dingiswayo who unifies the Zulu Nation under the domination of his Mthethwa tribe. At Dingiswayo's death, Shaka accedes to the Zulu throne from which he expands the Zulu empire through successive military successes over all of Natal (today, KwaZulu-Natal). Faure's story is distinct from other pre-apartheid accounts of Shaka's life in its positive retelling of the Zulu Nation's rise to dominance in western South Africa and in its admixture of military and personal history. In this account, Shaka is not merely the intangible father of a nation but a common man whose life both challenged and taught him to lead. --Erik Macki

Customer Reviews:

Comments and then Reviews.......2006-08-13

"I was not very impressed by the caption", "The most Savage Warrior of all times" even after watching the movie. I never saw savage, I saw a very clever revengeful boy, who grew with much hate for the ones who had done his family: Mother, Grandmother and sister as well as himself, Wrong. This warrior, who became a King, as told in the movie was destined to become a powerful King and rule over all Kraal's, which is the word the British chosen to be used for the Africans instead of empire's. So when one is not subjected to a way of another's way of living,then they choose to degraded another's way of life, with words. Powerful and savagery! I guess if I had to wonder in the wildernest for years I just might have a revenge problem as well.
I am still stuck on some of these chosen words by supposedly intelligent writers. Savage Warrior - would mean - untrained, uncivilized barbarian. Well people who can not think without killing would be barbarian's and people who defend would be called what??? Well there was not a trace of that with Chaka, he was thinking all the time for revenge of what had happened to his family and since His Grandmother had to die a harsh death, he figured the one's who sent them out to die should get the same justice. Justice!
Chaka was a true King and a powerful warrior first and foremost, and his reign of super intelligence, courage beyond words and the physical strength to achieve his goals. This King was not afraid of any man and with just a spear that he designed and shield that he designed, became a killing machine. He had his army stand before men with cannons and guns. WOW! amazing, and even more amazing they were undefeated. What military strategy. Now I am not quite sure if I remember why the British were afraid of him when he had nothing to do with them, oh! yes take over, fear. Yes, I remember now. Fear!
But I loved the mind of this King, he was not easily baited as planned by the British, nor easily defeated as planned. I am not a favorite of what wars do to humans, but if I had to march or fight behind a great king this would have been the one. Purpose! fight for a purpose. Not just for greed.
Review: This is a must see even now, Yes, it is an old version, but it is far better then the version I saw just recently, where Chaka was a captured slave. I better do some more reading, I don't remember that he was a captured slave. So I just might need to update my memory. Yet back to this film, I showed this to my children, many times, when they were young, it was a part of their history lesson. Try to never be manipulated..Try to be cleaver, like Fox. Henry Cele - (Shaka Zulu) was an outstanding actor, he was very powerful in his performance, as well as the young Shaka, I did not get his name not even on the credits here. I would have to look on the movie for his name. But this child did a superb job and the young man who portrayed Shaka as a teen, I did not see his name either, but he too, did a superb, job. I will have to look up their names, as for Dudu Mkhize who played his mother Nandi, and his Aunt; Mkabay, played by; Gugu Nxumalo. Now for the other names of the Zulu's and the other African Actors or people who portrayed these characters, names are not quite clear to me. Help! I was quite fond of the Dr. Henry Finn, played by Robert Powell, who seemed to narrate the movie as well as write the story, excellent job. This is a remarkable based true story. I give it a thumbs up. 5 star....

Absolutely bloodcurdling.......2004-03-10

I think I saw this on TV. The fighting is so realistic as to be terrifying. Not for the weak of heart or stomach. But like vampire films, it does have its macabre appeal. The movie fails to create any sympathy for the Africans who were colonized and suppressed by Europeans.

Get the Complete Miniseries instead!.......2002-12-02

Having watched and thoroughly enjoyed the entire miniseries on TV in the 1980s, I bought this set and expected it to be the same. I was very disappointed with the editing done to reduce the length from 8 hours down to 5 hours. The result is choppy, with dialogue frequently referring to scenes and sequences that were cut. In addition, there are editorial gaffes in some of the recaps of previous episodes where the cut scenes are recapped. These instances left me wondering what I had missed -- and then I realized that the scenes had been cut out. While this cut is still riveting, if you're willing to sit still for 5 hours of this version of Shaka Zulu, I'd recommend spending the additional 3 hours watching the complete version -- and at about the same price. It's well worth it!

An interesting take on an amazing person!.......2002-11-15

The video is great; the one unfortunate aspect being that it is edited from the original TV series to a degree in which some of the characters do not fulfill their personalities and impact upon the life of Shaka. Aspects of Shaka's childhood have been left out that appeared in the TV series and which greatly help to clarify some of his later actions and personality traits. Yet another thing I found disappointing is that it is told from the point of a white man, a needless aspect.

In spite of this though it is a great story of a little known part of African history documenting the difficult childhood of Shaka, his rise to prominence and forging of the Zulu Empire from a kingdom of a few thousand to one of hundreds of thousands.
Some great characterizations, a particular favourite being Shaka's maiden aunt Mkabayi. If anyone is interested they may also want to purchase E.A. Ritter's book 'Shaka Zulu' which explores many of the myths surrounding Shaka. A great video though and well worth the money.

Fabulous epic story........2002-11-13

The story follows Shaka,...son of the Zulu prince and his rise to greatness, but ultimately it's about the first interaction the Zulu nation had with British colonials and how everything in the royal court and the Zulu empire changes because of this first contact. Can you imagine us meeting an alien race for the first time? That's what it must have been like for Shaka and his people...There's intrigue and betrayal in the royal court; battles and the clever chess-like interaction between Shaka and Lt. Francis Farewell. What more do you want?
I'm so happy I bought this DVD set. It was truly a taste from my childhood and a story I will always enjoy.

Average customer rating:

Shaka Zulu
Starring: Gordon Jackson
Manufacturer: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Shaka Zulu [Region 2]
Starring: Edward Fox , Robert Powell , Trevor Howard , Fiona Fullerton , and Christopher Lee
Director: William C. Faure , and Joshua Sinclair
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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