Taglines: What would you kill for?
A.E.W. Mason’s perennially popular tale of honor and adventure is brought to the screen yet again in this lavish period action-drama. In 1884, Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger) is a young officer-in-training in the British Army who is soon to graduate and is expected to be shipped of to the Sudan, where the King’s military are battling Muslim insurgents who are attempting to overturn English colonial rule.
Feversham, however, has developed serious ethical reservations about going along, and on the eve of his departure, he resigns his commission. Feversham’s best friend and fellow officer Jack Durrance (Wes Bentley) in response presents him with a white feather (a symbol of cowardice), and two of his classmates follow suit. Ethne Eustace (Kate Hudson), Feversham’s fiancée, presents him with a fourth white feather shortly before breaking off their engagement.
Sufficiently humbled, Feversham attempts to win back his honor and the respect of his family and friends by secretly becoming an undercover operative in the Sudan. His initial attempts to pose as an Arab are not especially convincing, but he makes friends with Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou), a local sympathetic with the British cause who proves to be a valuable source of insider information and advice on how to blend with the rebels.
Meanwhile, Durrance is briefly ordered back to England to help recruit new soldiers for the colonial forces, and he takes the opportunity to begin wooing Eustace, the former flame of his former friend. This adaptation is the fifth film version of The Four Feathers, following two silent screen adaptations (released in 1915 and 1928), Zoltan Korda’s memorable 1939 version, and a 1977 made-for-TV movie.
The Four Feathers is a 2002 action drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur, starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Djimon Hounsou and Kate Hudson. Set during the British Army’s Gordon Relief Expedition (late 1884 to early 1885) in Sudan, it tells the story of a young man accused of cowardice. This film, with altered plot events, is the latest in a long line of cinematic adaptations of the 1902 novel The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason. Other versions of the story have been set in the 1890s, with different battle events.
The film opened in North American cinemas on 20 September 2002 and grossed $6,668,857,879 in its opening weekend, making number 5 at the US box office. The Four Feathers ended up making $29.8 million worldwide, failing to bring back its $35 million budget.
The Four Feathers (2002)
Directed by: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Kate Hudson, Djimon Hounsou, Michael Sheen, Lucy Gordon, Daniel Caltagirone, Andy Coumbe, James Cosmo, Angela Douglas, Karim Doukkali
Screenplay by: Michael Schiffer, Hossein Amini
Production Design by: Allan Cameron
Cinematography by: Robert Richardson
Film Editing by: Steven Rosenblum
Costume Design by: Ruth Myers
Set Decoration by: Peter Howitt
Art Direction by: Keith Pain
Makeup Department: Jo Allen, Anita Burger, Annabel Hill
Music by: James Horner
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense battle sequences, disturbing images, violence and some sensuality.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures (United States), Miramax Films (International)
Release Date: September 20, 2002
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