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Set in 1879, several Zulu warriors are wearing wrist watches, probably the same ones that the production company paid the extras with.
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Airliner contrails are visible.
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A few of the battle scenes show British soldiers with bolt-action rifles. Apparently there weren't enough Martini-Henrys to go around.
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Henry Hook is unfairly portrayed. According to Hook of Rorke's Drift by Barry C. Johnson, Bartletts Press, 2004: "[Hook] became the most famous private soldier in the annals of the British Army." He was "...a modest and exemplary hero." and "...the Producers of 'Zulu' originally intended to make to make Frederick Hitch, V.C., the 'malingerer' but decided, instead, to use Hook's name."
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During the battle in the hospital, when Hook bayonets a Zulu up against the wall, the bayonet clearly goes under the armpit, not through as the mark left on the wall afterwards would suggest.
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When Cpl. Allen is shot while helping Hitch, he grasps the right-hand side of his chest, but in all other scenes the wound is on the left side.
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When De Witt is held is the store room before the first attack, some tunic jackets are seen hanging on the outside of the door in one medium long shot. But they weren't there a short while before, when Colour Sgt. Bourne told him to shut up, and they aren't there in a close-up of the store room door shortly after that.
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When Sgt Maxfield faints in the hospital, Hook walks over and stands over him with both hands empty and hanging at his sides. In the next shot we see Hook's face, and he is holding his right hand at shoulder height with his bayonet in his hand.
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During the opening dance sequence, a messenger approaches where the Chief and Witt sit. Shadows extend from from the Chief and Witt toward the messenger. When the messenger actually gets to the Chief, no shadows are present. Also, in these same cuts, the area where Chief and Witt sit seems to shift from ground level to raised.
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When Lt. Bromhead (Michael Caine) is seen returning from his hunt, the bearers are carrying a dead cheetah and a springbok. The springbok is an antelope that inhabits arid areas in the northwest of South Africa, and was never present in Natal.
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The soldiers wear parade dress uniforms, including white helmets displaying the regimental crest. On active service they would have worn a more basic uniform with plain cork helmets, as depicted correctly in Zulu Dawn.
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The NCO badges of rank are on the left arms, these should be on the right arms.
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When the attack on Rorke's Drift is under way and Bromhead wonders where the Zulus got their rifles, Adendorff tells him it was from dead British soldiers at Isandlwana. But the Zulus who attacked Rorke's Drift had not fought at Isandlwana; they had been held back in reserve, and thus had no opportunity for looting. In fact, Zulus had been acquiring firearms of their own for some time from various sources, but they were mostly obsolete weapons far inferior to the Martini-Henry rifles used by the British.
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In the hospital before the battle, one of the soldiers named Jones tells Cpl. Schiess (who was actually in the Natal Native Contingent, not the Mounted Police as stated in the film) that he belongs to 'C Company'. In fact the company stationed at Rorke's Drift was B Company - as correctly identified at the end of the film in the list of recipients of the Victoria Cross.
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At one point in the film, a bright flash of sunshine can be seen reflecting briefly on what was believed to be a vehicle windscreen up on a hill behind Rorke's Drift. However, Stanley Baker's widow and others who have visited the site confirm that it was impossible to get any sort of vehicle onto the ridge, so there must be some other explanation (probably a spear).
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The British officer states that the Zulu riflemen can not fire from the hill because the chief is afraid of hitting his own warriors. This is incongruous with the opening skirmish in which the chief counts the British guns "with the lives of his warriors."
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In order to simulate 4,000 Zulu warriors lining up on a ridge, when only 500 Zulu extras were available, long wooden frames were used with 10-12 Zulu shields attached to the front of them with a real Zulu at each end. As the Zulus line up for the final "Fellow Braves" chant, there is one shot in which these shield-frames are obvious.
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In the hospital the holes in the walls to be used as loopholes and to escape from one room to the next are clearly visible and plastered over.
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The Commissary Doctor lifts the lid on a pot of boiling soup. It should be too hot to handle.
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Camera shadow on the ground between the two rows of Zulus prior to attack.
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Camera shadow on Bromhead's right shoulder after he tells Chard he did it.
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