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The Four Feathers
Directed by
Shekhar Kapur
PG-13
2002
2h 12m
Drama
,
War
,
and more
6.5
42%
65%
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A young British officer resigns his commission just before his regiment is sent to battle and soon receives four white feathers from his friends and fiancee as symbols of what they view as his cowardice.
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Cast of The Four Feathers
Heath Ledger
Harry Faversham
Wes Bentley
Jack Durrance
Kate Hudson
Ethne Eustace
Djimon Hounsou
Abou Fatma
Alex Jennings
Colonel Hamilton
Michael Sheen
William Trench
Lucy Gordon
Isabelle
James Cosmo
Col. Sutch
Angela Douglas
Aunt Mary
Daniel Caltagirone
Gustave
Mohamed Bouich
Sudanese Storyteller
Campbell Brown
Dervish Ansar
Andy Coumbe
Colonel Other Regiment
Karim Doukkali
Egyptian Orderly
Megan Hall
Millie
James Hillier
Drunken Corporal
Nick Holder
British Lion
Alexandra Kabi
Woman in Red Veil
Julio Lewis
Saadi
Craig McDonald
Wounded Captain
Lionel Mahop
Dervish Captain
Richard Manlove
British Corporal
Kris Marshall
Edward Castleton
Manar Mohamed
Youssef
Marouazi Mohammed
Dervish Sniper
Nider Mohamed
Mullah
Anna Diafe Ndiaye
Dinka Slavegirl
Medoune Ndiaye
Gentle Faced Porter
Deobia Oparei
Idris-Es-Saier
Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni
Hassan
Charles Pemberton
Impressario
Rupert Penry-Jones
Tom Willoughby
Tim Pigott-Smith
General Feversham
Mohamed Quatib
Ibrahim
Laila Rouass
Maya
Hugh Ross
Regimental Priest
Thioumbe Samb
Dinka Slavegirl
Mark Tonderai
Egyptian Orderly
Alek Wek
Aquol
Alex Zorbas
Egyptian Orderly
Bruce Lawrence
British Soldier
Rhidian Bridge
British Soldier (uncredited)
Gary Bunn
British Soldier (uncredited)
Christian Coulson
Drummer Boy (uncredited)
James Embree
British Cavalry Officer (uncredited)
Natalie Hallam
High Class Lady (uncredited)
Hugo Hedley
British Troop (uncredited)
Serena Lorien
Crying Widow (uncredited)
Cassie Newby
Period Dancer (uncredited)
Benjamin Uttley
General Wolseley's Aide-de-Camp (uncredited)
The Four Feathers Ratings & Reviews
匚卂尺ㄥ 匚ㄖㄖ爪乃乇丂
February 12, 2025
This beautiful film is very complex, with a few flaws, but overall a good exploration of the concept of commitment. Whereas the plot requires that the script be spun around the concept of cowardice, the four feather insult, and the lengthy redemption - there is an underlying and subtle theme of commitment that rings very true. Commitment itself is a complex emotion since commitment to one person or idea may compete with commitment to other folks or ideas. This is the dilema that faces handsome Harry Haversham, played well by the ever changing chameleon Heath Ledger. Harry has made a decision to join the army due to family commitments, specifically his father who is a general. He has made commitments to his buddies, his fellow soldiers. Thi is especially true for his commitment to his best friend, Jack Durrance (played beautifully by Wes Bentley). He has made commitments to his young fiance, Ethne Eustace, played by Kate Hudson. And he has commitments to himself, for he never wished to become a soldier and go to war. A British offensive in the Sudan is the catalyst for Harry to resign his commission as an officer in the army and leave the armed services. Harry decides to honor the commitment to himself, imagining that his relationship with Ethne will not change. Yet she is deeply impacted and can not imagine their life together if they are social outcasts. And so, by honoring his commitment to himself, Harry does not honor his commitment to Queen and country, to his father, to his fiance, and to his buddies. After the fellows become fully sunk in the wasp nest of the Sudan, Harry becomes greatly concerned at the report of the high number of deaths of British soldiers. He makes his way to the Sudan to save and protect his buddies and redeem himself in the eyes of others. During this dramatic struggle Harry undergoes some of the trials and tribulations of the hero, many of which are explained in the writings of Joseph Campbell. For example, in many myths regarding heroes, the hero shows kindness to a lesser being and in turn is rewarded. Harry shows kindness to an African tribal princess who spares his life when her tribesman kills the camel train leader. The struggles intensify as Harry becomes an observant pawn in a strategic struggle between Sudanese Islamic insurgents and British imperial troops. At this point he meets Abu Fatma, played exceptionally well by Djimon Hounsou. Djimon is an absolute mountain of muscle, a giant imposing character. Here the film becomes Jungian for in many ways Abu is Harry's shadow, the confrontation with the dark side of the self which brings about a stronger integrated personality. In classic Jungian theory, the Shadow is at first feared,and then becomes a guide into deeper feelings, and finally is integrated into the personality resulting in a stronger character with greater insight and compassion. This is exactly what happens in this partnership between Harry and Abu. In the end, Harry undertakes feats of incredible bravery and daring. He redeems himself in the eyes of those who saw him as a coward. He does this not only through brave acts but by integration of competing forces within his personality. Harry emerges a far more centered man after his encounter in the desert with his shadow. There are other well developed sub-themes such as Jack Durrance's heroism and sacrifice first of his eyes and then of his relationship with Ethne. The film ends with a fine speech by Jack Durrance about commitment to an abstract Queen and country as compared to commitment to the flesh and blood concrete reality of those comrades with whom we have bonded. And thus this parable tells us that our first commitment is to self, and then to those we love, but there is sometimes a steep price to pay for our commitments. The grand sweeping palaces of England and the desolate prisons hidden in African deserts offer vastly different views of the world of the British Empire. The film takes us on a grand journey of the eyes and of the character.
Newsday
John Anderson
It's an essentially stupid movie.
Seattle Times
Moira MacDonald
It's beautifully done, but there's not much of a point to it.
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
A spectacular-looking film, but its ambivalent story and viewpoint ultimately drag it down.
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Kapur weighs down the tale with bogus profundities.
Houston Chronicle
Bruce Westbrook
The Four Feathers has rewards, from the exoticism of its seas of sand to the fierce grandeur of its sweeping battle scenes.
Detroit News
Susan Stark
There's no denying the physically spectacular qualities of the film ... or the emotional integrity of the performances.
Denver Post
Steven Rosen
Weighted down with slow, uninvolving storytelling and flat acting.
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
As moth-eaten as a Bengal tiger rug on the floor of a London men's club.
Movie Mom
Nell Minow
Shekhar Kapur stages the pageantry very well, from the scenes of red-coated officers swirling their ladies around the dance floor to the marches, battles, and prison scenes.
Austin Chronicle
Marc Savlov
Offers too small a dose of the blood-and-sand adventure you expect from this sort of big-budget Hollywood remake.
Common Sense Media
Nell Minow
A decent film with some intense battle violence.
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
At its best, The Four Feathers recalls the consummate craftsmanship and irony-free storytelling of Hollywood's Golden Age.
Ebert & Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ledger does a great job in the action sequences and the more tender scenes.
Washington Post
Michael O'Sullivan
It's a pretty compelling yarn, not to mention full of pretty pictures, and yet it could be so much more than that.
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
A movie that lacks the jingoistic bravura of earlier editions ... but hasn't replaced it with meaningful historical revisionism appropriate to our post-colonial age.
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
A rousing if retro adventure film about soldiers and honor and brotherly love.
Salon.com
Charles Taylor
For all of the contemporary post-colonialist consciousness that Kapur tries to bring to The Four Feathers, the oddest thing about the movie is how it winds up affirming the same damn moldy values the material has always held dear.
Chicago Reader
J. R. Jones
As a cultural comeuppance, Kapur's take on The Four Feathers is weirdly reminiscent of Black Hawk Down...
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The characters are so feckless, the coincidences so blatant and the movie so innocent of any doubts about the White Man's Burden that Kipling could have written it.
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