"Shaka Zulu" (1986)TV mini-series

Director:

William C. Faure

Writer:

Joshua Sinclair (writer)

Release Date:

24 November 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Plot:

Actually, the movie begins and lasts mostly through the reign of George IV, the latter Queen Victoria incidents were classified as the "Zulu Wars". Shaka was dead by then.

Plot Keywords:

1700s | South Africa | Africa | Historical | Zulu

Cast

Edward Fox	...	Lt. Francis Farewell
Robert Powell	...	Dr. Henry Fynn / Narrator
Trevor Howard	...	Lord Charles Somerset
Fiona Fullerton	...	Elizabeth Farewell
Christopher Lee	...	Lord Bathurst
Henry Cele	...	Shaka
Dudu Mkhize	...	Nandi
Roy Dotrice	...	King George IV
Gordon Jackson	...	Prof. Bramston
Kenneth Griffith	...	Zacharias Abrahams
Conrad Magwaza	...	Senzagakona
Patrick Ndlovu	...	Mudli
Roland Mqwebu	...	Ngomane
Gugu Nxumalo	...	Mkabayi
Tu Nokwe	...	Pampata
Vuyisile Bojana	...	Mgobozi
Bingo Bentley	...	Bhuza
Simon Sabela	...	Dingiswayo
Sam Williams	...	Jama
Alex Heyns	...	Vegte
Graham Armitage	...	Wilkins
Geoff Albert	...	Thomson
Sonke Buthelezi	...	Nqoboka
John Carson	...	Lord Kimberley
Khumbulani Cele	...	Shaka (6-11)
Dabula Ciliza	...	Ghubela
Bill Curry	...	Popham
Terence Dlamini	...	Gazi
Thembinkosi Dlamini	...	Mevana
Glen Gabela	...	Shaka (15-19)
King Beaters Gabelah	...	Musi
Winston Gama	...	Mzilikazi
P.W.M. Gardner	...	Aithison
Keith Grenville	...	Shepstone
Zipathe Gumede	...	Nkalakata
Daphney Hlomuka	...	Queen Ntombazi
Eugene Hlomuka	...	Dilikana
James Irwin	...	Gen. Chelmsford
Ian Jali	...	Sigiyana
Kerry Jordan	...	Rev. Bellow
Benedict Khambula	...	Witchdoctor
Charles Kinsman	...	Cane
Sokesimbone Kubheka	...	Cetshwayo
Bruno Luthuli	...	Pungashe
Khulekani Magubane	...	Zwide
Victor Majavu	...	King Makedama
Phillip Majola	...	Ngwadi (9 years old)
Humphrey Makhoba	...	Dingane
Obed Makubane	...	Messenger
Africa Manqele	...	Ngazana
Sonto Mazibuko	...	Bibi
Grissel Mboni	...	Mfunda
Peter Mgaga	...	Nzobo
Eric Mcanyana	...	Godongwana
Dingeni Mhlongo	...	Nomcoba (child)
Precious Mkhize	...	Njani
Raymond Mkhize	...	Soshangane
Amos Mkhonza	...	King Kondlo
Louis Mtetwa	...	Ufasimba
Sally Mthembu	...	Majola
Lucky Mtshali	...	Nondumo
Sabelo Ndebele	...	Ngwadi
Daniel Ndlovu	...	Dlaba
Isabelle Ndlovu	...	Noliwa
Michael Nene	...	Mbopha
Shadrack Ngema	...	Joko
Elliot Ngubane	...	Mphepha
Peter Nkwanyana	...	Ufasimba
Alfred D. Nokwe	...	Kuta
Emily Nompumelelo	...	Mahlana
Adalbero Ntsele	...	Luthuli
Samuel Ntsini	...	The Nameless One
Horatius Ntuli	...	Njani's Father
Artwell Nyembe	...	Ufasimba Leader
Arletta Rabotapi	...	Maidservant
Michael Richard	...	Merdechai Abrahams
Erica Rogers	...	Queen Victoria
Hugh Rouse	...	Worthing
Cynthia Shange	...	Mkabi
Sibusiso Shange	...	Phakathwayo
David Sherwood	...	Captain Blair
Yule Simone	...	Gendeyana
Leonard Sithole	...	Mbuya
Washington Xisolo	...	Bhebhe
Ron Smerczak	...	Ogle
Sibongile Sokhulu	...	Nomcoba
Daniel Stewart	...	Tonino
Oliver Stole	...	Mbenghi
Sean Taylor	...	The Prince Of Wales
Reginald Tsokolibane	...	The Lion Man
Sean Weir	...	Hockley
Robert Whitehead	...	Simpson
Nomsa Xaba	...	Sitayi
Ganze Zama	...	Mtonga
Vincent Zulu	...	Pakatwayo
V.E.M. Zulu	...	King Sodubo
Patrick Zungu	...	Igazi

Directed by
William C. Faure

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Joshua Sinclair		writer

Produced by
Ed Harper	....	producer
Leon Rautenbach	....	executive producer
Joshua Sinclair	....	associate producer

Original Music by
David Pollecutt

Cinematography by
Alec Mills

Casting by
Peter J. Elliott

Makeup Department
Peter Moyo	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Carol Hickson	....	unit manager
Zsuzsanna Mills	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nigel Bower	....	third assistant director
Dabula Ciliza	....	second assistant director
James Devis	....	assistant director
Zsuzsanna Mills	....	first assistant director
Zsuzsanna Mills	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Ben Madumo	....	stand-by props
Nick Saint Clair	....	stand-by props
Hans van der Vegte	....	assistant art director

Visual Effects by
Chris Wallace	....	colourist

Stunts
Soli Mhlongo	....	stunts assistant
Peter J. Elliott	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
James Devis	....	director of photography: second unit
Gavin Horne	....	key grip
Mark Larkin	....	clapper loader: second unit
Peter Palmér	....	focus puller: second unit
Gilbert Reid	....	clapper loader

Costume and Wardrobe Department
David de Vries	....	chief assistant wardrobe

Other crew
Marlow De Mardt	....	continuity
Peter J. Elliott	....	action director
Peter J. Elliott	....	dialogue coach
Johan Kruger	....	assistant production accountant
Gill Quann	....	horse handler

Production Companies

• Harmony Gold
• South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
• Tele München Fernseh Produktionsgesellschaft (TMG)

Distributors

• Harmony Gold

Also Known As:

Shaka Zulu (Argentina) [es]

Runtime:

300 min

Country:

USA | Italy | Australia | South Africa | West Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

South Africa

Company:

Harmony Gold

Trivia:

Based on Joshua Sinclair's own novel "Shaka Zulu", itself based on the oral tradition of the Zulu people.

Quotes:

Somerset: Since he ascended the throne of the Zulus in 1816, Shaka has forged one of the mightiest empires the African continent has ever known... In less than 6 years, his small, insignificant tribe has risen from obscurity and given its name to an all-powerful nation organized into a fearsome military machine...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Kirsten Dunst/Eminem (#27.19)" (2002)

Quite rewarding!

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...