Four Feathers Director: Shekhar Kapur Country: USA Year: 2002

Starring: Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson, Wes Bentley
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Screenwriter: Hossein Amini, Michael Schiffer

The Four Feathers, presented by director Shekhar Kapur, has been a film favorite for decades. This is the fifth time a script based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason has been made into a movie. Kapur's epic Four Feathers bases itself around the theme of cowardice and redemption set in the Sudan in 1898. Sadly, this film fails to engage, even with the old English mansions, sweeping desert vistas and vicious battle scenes.

Heath Ledger plays Harry Feversham, a soldier and son of a proud British general. A prissy looking Kate Hudson plays Ethne, Harry's elegant fiance who plans to faithfully wait at home while her soon- to -be husband goes off to war. Meanwhile Jack, (Wes Bentley) who is Harry's best friend is secretly in love with Ethne himself. The first inklings of this contrived love triangle emerge during scenes of grand English parties wherein the well -to-do aristocratic British soldiers court well-to-do English ladies in lavish ballrooms. The parties and fun end pretty fast however when Harry realizes that his regiment is about to be shipped off for the first time to battle Sudanese rebels. He instantly panics and resigns his post.

"I never wanted to join the army," he says. "I did it for my father. I thought I'd serve out my commission a year or two."

After Harry resigns his commission and is consequently disowned by his army general father, Ethne and three of Harry's comrade officers send Harry white feathers, the hated symbol of cowardice. Later, when Harry learns Jack's unit has been attacked by Muslim extremists, he has the sudden courage to save his friends. This is the point where The Four Feathers goes astray by failing to explore the heart of the main character when he decides to go run away from his responsibilities to his country and fellow soldiers. One minute Harry's made out to be this yellow-bellied coward and a few scenes later, he's making his way through the desert by himself, ready to collapse from exhaustion and dehydration.

Traveling to the Sudan as a civilian, he attempts to blend in with the Sudanese and painstakingly begins to make his way toward the military front. He is wrapped in sheets to travel as a Muslim Sudanese, but with his long hair and scraggly beard Harry instead looks more like American Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh. During all this a well-supplied army of white soldiers in uniforms is killing an army of blacks riding camels. Eventually Harry is taken under the wing of an African tribesman Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou) who bails Harry out of trouble at every turn. If it weren't for the 'noble savage' Fatma , Harry would surely be a dead man. Although he barely speaks, Djimon Hounsou as the African mercenary soldier projects a regal presence that the other actors lack.

At some point amidst the shootings and slayings set in the scorching desert, Jack is shipped back to London, disabled by blindness caused in battle. Believing Harry is dead, Ethne and Jack begin to (surprise, surprise) fall in love. But as it turns out, Harry isn't dead. He is busy in the Sudan performing acts of bravery for his fellow officers. This in turn gives him the right to return each of his four feathers. The last white feather of cowardice that Harry returns is the one cruelly given to him by Ethne.

While director Shekhar Kapur's battle scenes are indeed horrific spectacles, he completely fails to challenge the very notion of British imperialism. This period piece feels unnatural and insincere. It also feels as though it goes on forever. The elaborate costumes, soap-opera like love triangle and desert scenery makes The Four Feathers seem like an obnoxious period piece designed specifically for Oscar glory, and not much else.