Zulu (2013 film)
| Zulu | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Jérôme Salle |
| Produced by | Richard Grandpierre |
| Written by |
Caryl Ferey Julien Rappeneau Jérôme Salle |
| Starring |
Orlando Bloom Forest Whitaker |
| Music by | Alexandre Desplat |
| Cinematography | Denis Rouden |
| Edited by | Stan Collet |
| Distributed by | Pathé |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language |
English Afrikaans |
| Budget | $16 million[1] |
| Box office | $2.6 million[2] |
Zulu is a 2013 English-language French produced crime film directed by Jérôme Salle. It was selected as the closing film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.[3][4]
The film is partly based on Project Coast, the program for biological and chemical weapons of the South African apartheid regime, and the book Zulu by author Caryl Férey, winner of the French Grand Prix for Best Crime Novel of 2008.
Plot
Police detectives Ali Sokhela (Forest Whitaker) and Brian Epkeen (Orlando Bloom) investigate a murder which apparently took place because the killer took a dangerous new drug.
The film starts when we see a young boy peeking through the windows of a house. The boy's father is outside being tortured by a group of people who set him on fire by 'necklacing' (a tire is wrapped around him and set alight). One of the men torturing his father sees him and the boy runs away.
Flash forward to 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa. The boy, Ali Sokhela, has now grown up and is the chief of the police homicide branch. He still has various psychological problems, including memories from his childhood, such as the one that was mentioned in the beginning of the film, which was triggered when he was using his treadmill.
The scene then goes to Sokhela heading towards a crime scene in the Botanical Gardens. He calls Detective Dan Fletcher who is driving his children to school. Sokhela asks Fletcher for a man named 'Brian,' Fletcher replies that he doesn't know where he is and that he hasn't arrived. Regardless of this, Sokhela and Fletcher are still able to reach the botanical gardens and into the crime scene. He finds the dead corpse of a young white girl who is believed to have been bashed to death. She is unidentified, but an investigator finds a video club card in the name of 'Judith Botha.'
Meanwhile, Epkeen is found back at his home. He is hungover and in bed with a woman when he hears a strange sound down in his kitchen. Nude, he goes down into the kitchen with his gun and scares the intruder, who turns out to be David, his estranged son looking for money. Epkeen had a divorce with his mother Ruby, who now lives a rich life with a dentist, Rick. After arguing about child support, Brian's womanising and his fathers blank tombstone, Brian lets his son leave.
Sokhela and Epkeen eventually discover that a biological weapon was being researched in secret before being released onto the streets as a new form of recreational drug, and move to confront those responsible.
Cast
- Orlando Bloom as Brian Epkeen
- Forest Whitaker as Ali Sokhela
- Tanya van Graan as Tara
- Natasha Loring as Marjorie
- Sven Ruygrok as David Epkeen
- Adrian Galley as Nils Botha
- Conrad Kemp as Dan Fletcher
- Roxanne Prentice as Judith Botha
- Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots as Claire Fletcher
- Dean Slater as Rick
- Kelsey Egan as Nicole Weiss
- Khulu Skenjana as Themba
References
- ↑ "Zulu (2013)". The Numbers. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- ↑ "Zulu (2013)". Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- ↑ "'Zulu' to Close Cannes Film Festival". Variety. Reed Business Information. 12 April 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
- ↑ "Orlando Bloom thriller to close Cannes film festival". BBC News. BBC. 12 April 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
External links
- Zulu at the Internet Movie Database
- Zulu at Rotten Tomatoes