| | |  | GIFT SETS | Home » » Shaka Zulu - The Complete 10 Part Television Epic | | | | | | | Description: | | An epic historical saga that traces the turbulent life of Shaka, the 19th-century Zulu tribal leader who united his people into one great nation that reached across Southern Africa until his downfall and murder. Henry Cele, Edward Fox, Trevor Howard and Christopher Lee head the cast in this remarkable, controversial production. This is the complete, uncut presentation; 8 1/3 hrs. on four discs. Standard; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital stereo, French Dolby Digital stereo; interview; photo gallery; scene access; more. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Edward Fox, Robert Powell, Trevor Howard, Fiona Fullerton, Christopher Lee | | Format:
| Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC | | Language:
| English, French | | Number of Discs:
| 4 | | Studio:
| A&E Home Video | | Run Time:
| 500 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| October 29, 2002 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 98 reviews |
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- Acceptable | | | $80.45 | New | | | $81.24 | New | | | $97.02 | Used
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- Mint | | | $888.00 | New | |
| New | |
| $28.99 | New | | | $34.99 | New | | | $36.99 This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. | New | | | $39.76 | New | | | $40.56 | New | | | $41.99 | New | | | $44.82 | New | | | $48.82 | New | | | $53.73 | New | | | $53.76 | New | | | $53.95 | New | | | $55.68 | New | | | $57.33 | New | | | $58.22 | New | | | $61.49 | New | | | $63.68 | New | | | $64.05 | New | | | $64.60 | New | | | $64.96 | New | | | $65.13 | New | | | $65.98 | New | | | $74.87 | New | | | $75.00 | New | | | $80.45 | New | | | $81.24 | New | | | $142.47 | New | | | $888.00 | New | |
| Used | |
| $27.00 | Used
- Mint | | | $32.00 | Used
- Good | | | $33.99 | Used
- Good | | | $38.99 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $44.82 | Used
- Mint | | | $48.95 | Used
- Mint | | | $49.95 | Used
- Mint | | | $59.44 | Used
- Mint | | | $59.45 | Used
- Mint | | | $97.02 | Used
- VeryGood | | | $888.00 | Used
- Mint | |
| Collectible | |
| $79.75 | Collectible
- Acceptable | |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 98 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 78 found the following review helpful:
 Amazing Story, ProductionDec 29, 2004
By Thomas Reiter
One of the best movies/series I have ever seen; the story is epic and well-told, and the acting and cinematography are fantastic.
What I liked best was the ambivalent nature of all of the main characters, not the two-dimensional cardboard cut-outs typically encountered in movies (and series). Shaka, while certainly a great leader, warrior, and king, is also certainly an utterly ruthless, blood-stained tyrant; this production does an amazing job of illustrating these and other facets of the man. As other reviewers note, Henry Cele was just amazing in this role.
The English characters were also portrayed well; the leader, Lt. Farewell, is depicted as a well-intentioned rogue seeking ivory, but ultimately his relationship with Shaka changes him. Normally he might not be a very sympathetic character, but compared to the British colonial officials in Capetown, he is practically a paragon of wisdom and virtue. The Scottish doctor meanwhile attempts with rather limited success to school Shaka in the tenents of the Christian faith--Shaka has a way of turning all of the doctor's earnest efforts completely backwards.
Finally, a comment about the large portion of the series devoted to Shaka's birth and childhood--it is Shakespeare and Greek tragedy rolled into one--prophecies, witchcraft, parricide, regicide, vengeance, love, war, etc. Very very interesting.
31 of 32 found the following review helpful:
Quite rewarding!Jan 13, 2007
By Roberto Frangie
"Robert"
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...
- 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...
72 of 88 found the following review helpful:
 Not Complete - Missing Episodes!!!Aug 13, 2009
By P. Epps
"Avid Homeschooler and Web Shopper"
Although this item is hyped as "the complete 10-part television epic," anyone with an IQ above 50 can see that it is anything but complete. First off, the set contains only FOUR cds, which is a huge clue that something is amiss. The first cd begins with an epilogue of sorts, detailing the threat of the Zulu Nation to the British interlopers in Africa, and ends right after the shipwreck of Freewell's crew and the taking of the translator crew member by the Zulus. However, cd #2 begins its narration talking about Nandi and baby Shaka's status as they relocate to another clan as if the viewers are already familiar with her and the issues surrounding her migration. And, even though cd #2 ends with Nandi and her two elementary-school-aged children being accepted into another clan, cd #3 opens with Freewell and his crew admidst the Zulus and a much, much older Shaka followed by the assassination attempt on Shaka's life. At this point in the series I became thoroughly disgusted. I had watched this series on A&E twice before and remember some of the crucial parts that were excised, namely Shaka's evolution as a warrior and leader, his influence upon the nature of warfare, as well as his subsequent rise to supremacy; in addition to the elevation of his mother, Nandi, and the initial meetings between Freewell and the other British interlopers...pardon me...crew members. None of these things were included in this collection, therefore for the makers of this series to proffer it to the public as the complete collection is disingenuous at best and thievery at its worst. I feel as if I have been DUPED!
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
"Never leave an enemy behind or it will rise again to fly at your throat."Jan 06, 2007
By Jenny J.J.I.
"A New Yorker"
I've first seen this series when it first came out on TV and it had me at awe and having watched the whole series through again I realized that this is still a great story, very well told and well acted. Filmed entirely on location in South Africa, Shaka Zulu offers an often-compelling look at a tumultuous period in African history, centering around the character of Shaka himself, who emerges as a complex figure teetering on the balance between leader and tyrant. What I like most about Shaka Zulu is that it never bows to stereotype and never simplifies the story down to "good guys versus bad guys. The British government is clearly in favor of colonizing Africa through fair means or foul; some of the British feel that this is wrong, though they are outvoted by those who feel that British self-interest (and power) takes precedence over the less powerful native nations of Africa. But it's also abundantly clear that Shaka is far from a heroic leader of his people against European colonialism. His rise to power is shown to be a bloody, brutal story of merciless warfare and the quenching of his own personal thirst for revenge; and in the end, we can see that a "great leader" can destroy a nation as easily as he can create it.
Who can forget Henry Cele? He does a very creditable job as in the title role, radiating the raw power of the war leader while also clearly portraying Shaka's keen and agile mind. The scenes in which Farewell and the others match wits with Shaka are some of the most entertaining, particularly when Dr. Fynn (Robert Powell) tries to direct Shaka toward the study of Christianity; Shaka's reasoned (and alarming, for Dr. Fynn) application of the story of Christ to his own situation is priceless. Edward Fox does his best to portray Lt. Farewell as a fully-developed character, but in this case, the series can be faulted for not being detailed enough, despite the length of the production. The concluding episodes appear to build on aspects of Farewell's character that are insufficiently supported by what we've seen of him in the story. It's worth noting that the listing of Christopher Lee as a co-star is hyperbole: he does appear in the film, but only very briefly at the beginning.
One thing that holds Shaka Zulu back from being a really outstanding epic story is the unevenness of the narrative; while some of the episodes are well-paced and interesting all the way through, others have less to offer. There are good production values and great scenery and hundreds of "real" extras, a refreshing change from the vacuous CGI laden "epics" which flood the cinema. I think the fact this was a mini-series has led to this production being seriously undervalued. While it's far from perfect, it is certainly ambitious, and does capture the epic sweep of Shaka's life and times.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Shaka Zulu an Exceptional ProductionJan 31, 2003
By Harold F. Wagner
Shaka Zulu was by any standard an exceptional production. The cinematography, script, actors and setting were all superb. Henry Cele was extraordinary as Shaka and I can't imagine that there is an actor anywhere in the world who could have portrayed him any better.The native settings and attire added greatly to the production. The characters and performances were all top notch and the relationship between Edward Fox (as Farewell) and Henry Cele (as Shaka) was portrayed beautifully and powerfully. Drama at its very best. This production is without doubt as good as anything I've ever seen on television or in the movies. The DVD would have been greatly enhanced if post production interviews could have included Henry Cele. He was truly the star of this series, and that's saying a great deal given the quality of all of the other performances.
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