The Four Feathers

***Brits fighting Sudanese rebels in 1884 with Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson*** Based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason, a greenhorn British regiment in 1884 is commissioned to Egyptian-ruled Sudan to fight Mahdi rebels. A young officer, Harry (Heath Ledger), unexpectedly resigns and is shamed as a coward by his three best friends (e.g. Wes Bentley) and fiancée (Kate Hudson). After the negative fallout he goes to Sudan undercover to hopefully redeem his honor. "The Four Feathers" (2002) is similar to Victorian-Brits-fighting-in-Africa flicks like “Zulu” (1964) and “Khartoum” (1966),…

**An elegant, visually beautiful, historically well-made film, but very clean of all the controversies it could address.** The novel “The Four Feathers” has been adapted for film several times, since the days of silent films. Before seeing this film, I had seen a 1939 version, and the similarities of both films are almost as striking as their differences. Which one will be the closest to the original novel? I don't know, I haven't read the novel, but I'd bet more on the older version. I don't know if it's really worth talking about the script: Harry Faversham, a young British son of a…

The loved-up "Harry' (Heath Legder) does the unthinkable and resigns his military commission just as his regiment is about to go into action in North Africa. He thinks of his motives as thoroughly honourable - staying to be with new affianced "Ethne" (Kate Hudson). Sadly for him, though, just about everyone else thinks he has gone a bit yellow and deliver him the ultimate symbol of cowardice - a single white feather attached to their card. It's only his friend "Jack" (Wes Bentley) who has some sympathy but when the soldiers leave, "Jack" is completely ostracised - even by his love. He isn't…