On the topic of historical drama films, what are your thoughts on Zulu?

I like Zulu like I like H.P Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard – it’s a guilty pleasure, or in the parlance of Tumblr, a “problematic fave.” The acting and dialogue is crackling (especially a young Michael Caine), the period details are on-point (although not without some odd changes from the recorded events), the action is thrilling, the cinematography is great…

But at the end of the day, you have to acknowledge that the protagonists of the film, the people you’re meant to be cheering on, are a bunch of imperialists with no casus belli at all (who fought with who modern rifles, cannons, Gatling guns, and rocket batteries, although only the first was used at Rorke’s Drift) who are killing hundreds of Zulu who were fighting for their independence on their own land, armed largely with assegai and iklwa. 

All this is to say that Zulu is one of the most imperialist movies of the post-WWII era, which is problematic, as I’ve said above.