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Zulu Dawn scenes i am curious about
dodgermuk


Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 38
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Zulu Dawn was on BBC 2 yesterday (9th) and while watching it for the umptine time, some scenes had me wondering if they actually occured or if this it was another one of those 'artistic license' scenes.

Scene's in question are
1) Upon hearing about a large party of Zulus in the North, a character refered to as 'Master Boer' recommends a defenseive position for the wagons 'larger' (spelling) but is dismissed out of hand.

2) One of the captured Zulus is taken into Chelmsford tent and asked some questions. The Zulu gives false information. Chelmsford questions the boer who gave the orginal info about the Zulus being in the North.

3) The 3 captured Zulus escape killing one of the guards, supposedly to go and warn the king.

OK, the 3 scenes, did all or any actually occur? Scene 1 the Master Boer's defense suggestion being dismissed out of hand. Is this the arrogance of Chelmsford in that he knows best, more so than a boar who knows the Zulus better than anyone. Scene 2, would both the Zulu and the Boers information been classed as unreliable. We know captured enemy will always give false information to the enemy, but the boer. OK the film portrays hims as a drunk and eggrates the truth but still is he information not more credible? Scene 3, the captured Zulus escape. Knowing the info about the camp would have got back to the Zulu King, would the officer in charge of the camp made changes realising that the status of the camp had been comprimised.

All the above could be of no relevance if none of the scenes actually happened. It just stirred my curiosty.

Rog
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Rog

Your last supposition is correct, in that none of the scenes occurred - along with quite a few other scenes and actors' lines in the film which have no foundation at all. On the other hand, the reasons for the inclusion for some of those you mention are fairly clear - the intention to convey a (correct) sense of under-estimating the Zulu and also to reflect certain incidents which had happened. Obviously, for the sake of the film, a number of authentic incidents might be condensed into one.

The first one you've mentioned probably reflects the Dunbar incident of a few days previously and Melvill's warning of the previous day or so, as well as providing a reason for the disaster which the film doesn't have time to dwell on at the end but which obviously became the focus of attention after the 22nd. The second and third probably derive from the treatment of Gamdana's people a few days earlier, after which - in the light of the defeat at Isandlwana - there were suspicions among the British, colonists and NNC that these released captives may have contributed to Zulu intelligence. In the film, the three captive lads in the camp on the 22nd were, of course, fictional. This is not to say, however, that captured (and otherwise) Zulu were not questioned by the British for intelligence reasons in the days before the battle, nor that the collating and assessment of their statements was not poorly done, nor that the Zulu spying effort in the district was not successful.

Zulu Dawn, though, is not really a sound basis from which to begin to understand the battle, to put it mildly.

Peter
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AMB


Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 921
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Rog,

Regarding the Boer�s advice. Paul Kruger met Chelmsford and did indeed tell him to laager up (draw his wagons into a defensive position) when static; a piece of advice that the Boers had learned the hard way [I�m afraid I can�t put a reference source to this as I�m writing this well away from my library].

Clearly, as Chelmsford did not form laager or indeed entrench (as per his own order at the start of the first invasion), he was seemingly determined to re-learn old lessons; some might say, with the blood of his soldiers.

AMB
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peterw


Joined: 30 Aug 2005
Posts: 865
Location: UK
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While there is a chasm between fact and fiction in much of the I do feel that the Zulu surge through the camp is very well done, and gives some impression of what those final moments must have been like. My comments relate to the scale of the battle and not the movements of individuals.

Peter
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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I recall that it was Kruger as you say AMD, among others, who stressed the need to laager the wagons (note the odd Afrikaans spelling, Rog) to Chelmsford. The story the Boer (again an odd spelling and pronounced with two syllables as Bo-err) tells about his brother being killed with others is apparently an obscure and vaguely inaccurate reference to the massacre of Piet Retief's party by Dingane-- note the number of bodies he states they found afterward is similar to that in Retief's mission.

Parenthetically, I've always balked at the ease with which the Zulu cuts the binding ropes with a '76 pattern socket bayonet. If it were honed to sharp edges, I believe it would still take forever to cut a heavy rope with one if you could even do it. Note to self, experiment with that some day.

The sutler (what was his name?) is very loosely based on the trader whom Chelmsford had thrown out of the camp before crossing the Buffalo because he (the sutler) claimed that gin had been stolen from his stock of goods and none could later be found in a subsequent and time consuming search of the men's belongings. He actually never made it as far as the Zulu side of the river. TWOTS


Last edited by Sawubona on Sun May 10, 2009 11:55 pm; edited 2 times in total
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dodgermuk


Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 38
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Thankyou for your replies, much appreciated. What was curiositity is no more.

Rog
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The most annoying of all the uniform faults, is how the light blue concept arose for the N.N.H. officers, for when you see the extras who are playing the roles of the N.N.C. officers/NCOs, they wear a combination of brown colours for their uniform, which I think would have been more apt for Raw, Vereker, Harford and Hamilton Browne, instead of the out-of-place cheap look.

Apart from that, I can tolerate everything else, until such time as....

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Zulu Dawn scenes i am curious about
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