CEREDIGION’S armed forces champion has defended the classic film Zulu after campaigners claimed it was racist, writes Lois Price.

Cllr Paul Hinge spoke out after 28 residents in Folkestone, Kent, tried to get the 1964 epic starring Sir Stanley Baker and Sir Michael Caine axed from a film festival at the town’s Silver Screen cinema because they felt it had racist overtones.

Organisers were hoping to raise money for Armed Forces charity, SSAFA, by screening the film which recounts the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in 1879 when 4,000 Zulu warriors were held off by 150 British soldiers.

In a letter to the mayor of Folkestone, the residents said: “We wholeheartedly support the efforts being made to raise funds for the SSAFA.”.

But they added: “The film Zulu, with its inaccurate portrayal of historical events and racist overtones, could have a negative effect on relationships withing the changing and richly diverse communities here in Folkestone.”

However a poll found that over 10,000 people were in favour of screening the film.

The film was also defended by Bow Street councillor and international historian Paul Hinge, who served with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, which was involved in the battle.

He said he was “concerned we’re not understanding the context of the time”, and felt protesters are trying to apply “21st century norms on 19th century happenings”.

Tom Langlands, owner of Bigger Boat Pictures, which wanted to show the film, which has been screened in Aberystwyth several times, said: “Zulu isn’t about dividing a community with some misplaced political agenda. It’s about making it stronger through entertainment, empathy and old-fashioned decency."

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