The Four Feathers (2002)
Genre: Adventure / War
Duration: 125 minuten
Country:
United States / United Kingdom
Directed by: Shekhar Kapur
Stars: Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson
IMDb score:
6,5 (36.536)
Releasedate: 8 September 2002
The Four Feathers plot
"Freedom. Country. Honor. Passion. To save his best friend, one man must risk everything he loves."
On the night of his engagement to Ethne, daughter of a fallen officer, Harry Faversham is told that his regiment is going to be shipped to the then British colony of Sudan, to quell a rebellion of Muslim extremists. However, Harry doesn't feel like going into a foreign battle that is none of his business and he resigns. This does not go down well with his friends, and they each send him a white feather, the brand of the coward in army circles. In addition, he receives a fourth white feather from his fiancée, who thus considers their relationship to be over. When the first reports of victims reach England, and Harry searches in vain for his friends among the names of the fallen, he goes to Sudan to return the feathers by means of a heroic act.
Actors and actresses
Harry Faversham
Jack Durrance
Ethne Eustace
Abou Fatma
Colonel Hamilton
William Trench
Isabelle
Col. Sutch
Aunt Mary
Gustave
Reviews & comments
Dreiecke
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- 2768 messages
- 902 votes
The story is very beautiful, about loss and restoration of honor and about friendship, sacrifice and loyalty. I found it interesting to follow. I also liked the execution, with softly colored, sandy Sudanese landscapes and many shots that were done with larger crowds. Pretty well designed, with beautiful pastel and beige tones and sometimes very nice effects with the sand.
I also love the make-up and clothes. There is a score, but rather inconspicuous.
The main character (Heath Ledger) comes across very well, in his role of someone trying to come to terms with himself and others, a great character. For example, I thought the scene with the blind man was fantastically performed and there are more beautifully acted scenes, where time is really taken for the right (emotional) effect.
The only thing that disappointed me is the fairly long duration of the film and the music score.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Lennert
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- 2412 messages
- 1400 votes
Glorious directing and beautiful backdrops don't make an interesting film. It's not all bad, but the cardboard acting with horribly over the top accents of both Hudson and Ledger, make the dialogues between the two almost comical to watch. The film tries to establish intense relationships, but fails enormously because of the wooden dialogues and the fact that sometimes very strange jumps in the story are made. Most illogical was the relationship between Ledger and Hounsou, unless someone thinks it logical that the only Sudanese who speaks English would immediately hang out with an English soldier after he first tries to blackmail him. There was absolutely no reason for this, other than that Hounsou would be such a friendly man, but that was not mentioned anywhere.
However, it all looked taken care of by the beautiful wide shots and atmospheric slow motion, especially during the big battle it was wonderful to see how the heavily outnumbered British soldiers are attacked from all sides. If the movie had ended after this, I would have liked it a lot better too, because the search for Trench that follows felt especially strange and forced.
No, The Four Feathers is a deserved flop in that respect, although it is certainly worth seeing. Looks nice, but is sugary sweet. I also don't really understand the Ledger enthusiasts, again it all came across as a bit caricatured.
Translated from Dutch · View original
blurp194
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- 5543 messages
- 4226 votes
An epic and romantic story, like an exciting boy's book - which it is, of course, because it's a book adaptation. And with that immediately the problem I have with the film - it is an epic story, but the film adaptation lacks just a little too much the kind of (again) epic megalomania that in the 50s and 60s for these kinds of films was the fashion. And that feels somewhat like a loss.
The story also lacks something due to the somewhat cautious timing - the introduction took too long for me, and so was the ending. All at the expense of what matters, after all, that must be the heroic and exotic adventure in the Sudan. A bit of a shame, because the part that plays there is fine in itself, meets all genre clichés - although the mass scenes are not as massive as was more or less obligatory in the old films.
I thought the actors - maybe with the exception of Hudson - were very good. Perhaps also that the front and back of the film has received less inspiration. Ledger, who I have never seen play badly, convinces well and is also surrounded by actors who show good acting.
Anyway. So it's not really bad as far as I'm concerned, what Shekhar Kapur delivers with this. Not really good either, and it makes me muse what a production this could have been in the time of Ben Hur, and with the same kind of megalomania and budgets to match. It doesn't make it really curious about the other three film versions - they all seem a bit hypothermic, if I'm just guessing.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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