Well it's anti-war/critical of war in a lot of ways:
1) The Zulus end the fight even though they could have clearly won through a massacre. So one can only conclude that their idea of victory did not include massacre. Actually, according to the historians, they ended that battle because they were taking too many causalties.
2) The British commanders clearly say at the end of the film that they never want to fight again and, in real life, they never did.
3) The plebe discussions throughout the movie argue against their having any purpose in being there; at one point one soldier even remarks in disgust that the soil is very poor for farming...so what the hell are they doing there...
4) The "god is with us" argument is the most ridiculed in the entire movie.
That's about it. It may be that I have a partial view of the film. It was an incredibly well-made movie: great dialogue, great acting, spectacular battle scenes...and it was the very last movie I saw where I was able to smoke in the theater.
Joanna B.