As someone who is very interested in the Zulu nation and having read many books on this subject particularly The Washing of Spears by Donald R Morris- I was looking forward to watching the DVD box set. I had caught odd episode repeats on TV and wanted to view it properly. However, I was disappointed with it. The editing was appalling. SCenes suddenly ended as the screen went black and new scenes started without any natural chronology - I assume to fit in adverts on TV. Whole scenes of the tribal episodes had the use of the Zulu language without subtitles so there was no explanation of what was happening. Additionally, some of the local actors used had such thick accents they needed subtitles when speaking English and some of the acting was very stilted and wooden. Also the battle scenes although they had a cast of thousands looked artificial. Warriors were dying all over the place with a bit of tomato sauce and no real injury. Shaka saves a warrior who has a spear in his back, when he meets him later there is no scar. The fighting had no real explanation about who hey were fighting. One minute he is taken in by someone, then he is with someone else. The scenes with the usual stockpot of English actors who always turn in a decent performance were good as one would expect. I particularly liked Edward Fox who dropped his Edward 8th mannerisms for a change. Henry Cele looked majestic as Shaka so was well cast, but the scenes in his younger years were awful. Dudu Mkhize as Nandi, SHaka's mother gave the best performance in the whole series. It seemed neither a film nor a documentary but as it was apparently made in South Africa before the end of Apartheid at least it let the magnificent Zulus relive their history

a timeless, epic classic tale of the woo-ti booties v. the boo-tie woo-ties. i'm not sure which side shaka wars on. such sophisticated cultures i cannot compare to any other cultures of any other time, any other place. unfortunately some will always claim this story to be laced with racism which is not so subtle with the writer's use of such diction; i.e. ''kaffirs'', and ''monkeys''. also, there were a few break-out actors in this film, and a few that i think just ''broke out''. of course mentioning the high lights of this movie would amount to revealing the plot spoilers. warring tribe leaders of this period can clearly compare our current day leaders also having African decent. no ironies here, just direct history in places like Somalia, and former Zaire.

Based largely on E. A. Ritter's novel, using diaries from Henry Francis Fynn (who is credited as providing medical care to Shaka after an attempt on his life from a member of a rival tribe) & James Stuart, this is a well told & well acted story. Shaka kaSenzangakhona's statesmanship and military prowess are some of the reasons he is rated as one of the greatest Zulu kings. Highly respected by his tribe this film shows the changes he was able to make in the way that the tribes performed in battle, he is known as a ruthless and effective warrior. Unfortunately this film is often hobbled by a cheesy score and some very poorly executed sound recording. The late Henry Cele was perfect for the role. Well worth watching if you can get by the results of budgetary constraints.

It seems that the best actors were the tribesmen, done on location, and very graphic on the gore. Could tell right away that this wasn't American Television. The Aussie's and New Zelanders, definately make better mini-series than we do.