The Four Feathers- 9/17/02 - PG-13 - 125m
Heath Ledger
Wes Bentley
Kate Hudson
Director: Shekhar Kapur

JEF
I enjoyed this movie but would not recommend it for everyone. It was the kind of movie that seemed to try to bridge the demographic gap of men and women. There was some good action shots in the battle scenes, and for the women a sappy romance plot that weaved into the action.
The basic plot was that Harry (Heath Ledger, “A Knight’s Tale”, and “The Patriot”, and who I believe will be the next “Mel Gibson”), was in the British Army. As a young man who was the son of a high ranking officer in the army, he was expected to join in the army. Well, soon after announcing his engagement to Ethne Eustace (Kate Hudson), the troops are being called off to war. Well, Harry gets cold feet regarding the war, and even questions the British empire’s role in the Sudan. He then proceeds to resign from the army. His 3 friends, and his fiancé, each give him a white feather, which at the time symbolizes cowardness. After facing some tough decisions, and second guessing his original choice to resign from the army, he decides to go on his own to prove to his friends and himself that he’s not a coward.
The Romance deals with Harry and Ethne’s obvious love, but Harry’s best friend, Jack (Wes Bentley) is also in love with Ethne. It’s not until Harry’s apparent dropping out of society, that Jack, and Ethne start a friendship through writing letters. This friendship then blossoms into a romance.
Well, as you can guess, Harry never left society, and only went off to the war, and proceeded to go through difficult and heroic adventures, only later to come back to Ethne’s doorstep.
One of Harry’s friends, Abou Fatma that saves his life on several occasions was played by Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator and Amistad), who did an excellent job. You really started to feel the friendship between Harry and Abou. I was not too impressed with Jack’s role, and his character felt very flat to me. Ethne was good too.
All in all a good movie, and if you can get past the sappy romance will enjoy this action movie. If you like the romance style movies, and can get past the war scenes, then I think you would also enjoy the movie. You may even learn some history while watching the movie. I was surprised by a line at the very beginning of the movie that said the British empire ruled 3/4’s of the earths land in 1898! I also enjoyed the period costume designs, and seeing the military tactics used back then.

Jef