The Four Feathers (2002 film)
Encyclopedia
The Four Feathers is a 2002 action
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...

 drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Shekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur is an Indian film director and producer. A critically acclaimed director, he rose to popularity with the movie Bandit Queen...

, starring Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

, Wes Bentley
Wes Bentley
Wesley Cook "Wes" Bentley is an American film actor known for his role of Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.-Early life:Bentley was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the son of Cherie and David Bentley, who are United Methodist ministers....

, Djimon Hounsou
Djimon Hounsou
Djimon Diaw Hounsou is a Beninese actor and model. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards.-Early life:Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond....

 and Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...

. Set during the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 army's Gordon Relief Expedition (late 1884 to early 1885) in Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, it tells the story of a young man accused of cowardice
Cowardice
Cowardice is the perceived failure to demonstrate sufficient mental robustness and courage in the face of a challenge. Under many military codes of justice, cowardice in the face of combat is a crime punishable by death...

.

This film, with altered plot events, is the latest in a long line of cinematic dramatizations of the original 1902 novel The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers
The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer A.E.W. Mason that has inspired many films of the same title.-Plot summary:...

by A.E.W. Mason. Other versions of the story have been set in the 1890s, with different battle events.

Plot

Harry Faversham (Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

), a young British officer, celebrates his engagement to the beautiful young Ethne (Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...

), in a lavish ball with his fellow officers and his father in attendance. When the regimental Colonel (James Cosmo
James Cosmo
James Cosmo is a prolific Scottish actor, with numerous credits in film and television since the late 1960s and Cosmo is still currently acting. Cosmo was born in Clydebank, Scotland, the son of actor James Copeland...

) announces that the regiment is being dispatched to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian-ruled Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

 to rescue the British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon
Charles George Gordon
Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....

 (who is being besieged in Khartoum
Khartoum
Khartoum is the capital and largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran"...

 by Islamic rebels of The Mahdi
Muhammad Ahmad
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah was a religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, on June 29, 1881, proclaimed himself as the Mahdi or messianic redeemer of the Islamic faith...

), young Faversham becomes nervous and resigns his commission. Shocked by his son's actions, Harry's father (Tim Pigott-Smith
Tim Pigott-Smith
Tim Pigott-Smith is an English film and television actor.-Early life:Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, and...

) disowns him. Perceiving his resignation as cowardice, his friends and fiancée give him four white feathers, the symbol of cowardice.

Tormented, isolated and alone in London, Harry learns that his best friend Jack (Wes Bentley
Wes Bentley
Wesley Cook "Wes" Bentley is an American film actor known for his role of Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.-Early life:Bentley was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the son of Cherie and David Bentley, who are United Methodist ministers....

) and his former regiment have come under brutal attack by rebels. Undertaking the perilous journey into the Sudan alone, he strikes up an alliance with Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou
Djimon Hounsou
Djimon Diaw Hounsou is a Beninese actor and model. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards.-Early life:Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond....

), a wise mercenary warrior. Harry then disguises himself as an Arab. Harry and Abou Fatma follow a group of army workers he believes to be Mahdi spies, following them takes them to the garrison of Khartoum which they realize on entry has been over run. However, before they can leave the gates are closed. Harry is taken roughly aside, as this happens he begs Abou Fatma to warn his friends that their destination is under siege and an attack is likely. Instead of being discovered Harry is given a red British military jacket. Meanwhile the regiment has stopped its march to bury a group of British dead killed by the Mahdi. Abou Fatma is captured by Egyptian soldiers; believing he is an enemy scout they bring him before the British officers (Faversham's friends). He tells the British that he has been sent by a British officer, referring to Faversham, in order to warn them of the Mahdi's attack. He also points out that Muslims always bury their dead and that of the enemy, but that these bodies have been left to keep the British occupied. Faversham's comrades are worried, but ultimately Abou Fatma's warnings are disregarded, and he is whipped.

Because of their disregard of the warnings, the British and Egyptian troops are not prepared for battle. The Mahdi rebels attack with spearmen, riflemen and cavalry, while the British forces form a square. Firing volley after volley, the British repel the initial Mahdi assault just as they spot British cavalry reinforcements in their distinctive red uniforms. A force of skirmishers is sent to pursue the retreating Sudanese, but they are ambushed by Mahdi rebels hiding beneath the sand, and the skirmishers are forced to fight on foot. Soon the British discover that the cavalry they perceived were their own reinforcements are actually Sudanese disguised in British uniforms. Among them is Faversham, who was mistakenly thought to be a Sudanese. The British square hastily reorganises and fires a few volleys, in the process killing several skirmishers who have not yet returned to the square (including Harry's friend Edward Castleton (Kris Marshall
Kris Marshall
Kristopher "Kris" Marshall is an English actor, best known for his role as Nick Harper in My Family, and as Adam in the adverts for BT Group since 2005.-Career:...

), who gave him one of the feathers). In the end the order is given for retreat.

Jack was found and protected by Harry during the battle. Jack's rifle had misfired and blinded him. Harry finds letters of tenderness from Ethne but puts aside his feelings and cares for Jack without telling him who he is. Not knowing who his rescuer was, Jack then returns home. He asks Ethne to marry him, but she does not give him an answer discussing the matter with Harry's father. Tom tells Jack that Harry had come to visit him in the Sudan to tell him he had been the officer that sent Abou, and that Harry had expressed bitter anger and sorrow that his friends did not listen to the warning. Harry asked for money and explained that he believes William lives on in a notorious Mahdi prison and Harry is determined to find him and rescue him. Abou advises him not to go, but Harry goes anyway. Later Abou rescues Harry and his miraculously still alive comrade by giving them 'poison' that really just fakes the symptoms of death. However, a guard is suspicious of the duo's death and follows them along with three other guards. All four guards are killed by Harry and Abou and then the two part ways: Abou back to the desert and Harry back to England. Harry is acknowledged by his father and Ethne asks for her feather back; however she is now engaged to Jack. Jack comes to find out Harry rescued him as Jack touches his face as he did in the desert and releases Ethne from their engagement. After a ceremony of Remembrance, Harry and Ethne hold hands and are engaged once more.

Cast

  • Heath Ledger
    Heath Ledger
    Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...

     as Harry Faversham
  • Wes Bentley
    Wes Bentley
    Wesley Cook "Wes" Bentley is an American film actor known for his role of Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.-Early life:Bentley was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the son of Cherie and David Bentley, who are United Methodist ministers....

     as Jack Durrance
  • Djimon Hounsou
    Djimon Hounsou
    Djimon Diaw Hounsou is a Beninese actor and model. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards.-Early life:Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond....

     as Abou Fatma
  • Kate Hudson
    Kate Hudson
    Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...

     as Ethne Eustace
  • Rupert Penry-Jones
    Rupert Penry-Jones
    Rupert William Penry-Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as Adam Carter in the British television series Spooks, also broadcast under the title MI-5.-Family life:Penry-Jones was born in London on September 22, 1970...

     as Tom Willoughby
  • Kris Marshall
    Kris Marshall
    Kristopher "Kris" Marshall is an English actor, best known for his role as Nick Harper in My Family, and as Adam in the adverts for BT Group since 2005.-Career:...

     as Edward Castleton
  • Michael Sheen
    Michael Sheen
    Michael Christopher Sheen, OBE , is a Welsh stage and screen actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and made his professional debut opposite Vanessa Redgrave in When She Danced at the Globe Theatre in 1991...

     as William Trench
  • Alex Jennings
    Alex Jennings
    Alex Jennings is an English actor whose roles have included Charles, Prince of Wales in The Queen .-Early years:...

     as Colonel Hamilton
  • James Cosmo
    James Cosmo
    James Cosmo is a prolific Scottish actor, with numerous credits in film and television since the late 1960s and Cosmo is still currently acting. Cosmo was born in Clydebank, Scotland, the son of actor James Copeland...

     as Colonel Sutch
  • Angela Douglas
    Angela Douglas
    Angela Douglas , born Angela McDonagh, is an English actress.-Early life:She was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire...

     as Aunt Mary
  • Tim Pigott-Smith
    Tim Pigott-Smith
    Tim Pigott-Smith is an English film and television actor.-Early life:Pigott-Smith was born in Rugby, Warwickshire, the son of Margaret Muriel and Harry Thomas Pigott-Smith, who was a journalist. He was educated at Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester, King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon, and...

     as General Feversham
  • Lucy Gordon
    Lucy Gordon (actress)
    Lucy Gordon was a British actress and model. She became a face of CoverGirl in 1997 before starting an acting career. Her first film was Perfume in 2001 before going on to have small roles in Spider-Man 3, Serendipity and The Four Feathers...

     as Isabelle
  • James Hillier
    James Hillier (actor)
    James Hillier, is an English actor. In recent years he has played Sergeant Christian Young on the BBC police drama, HolbyBlue, and Damian, Roxy Mitchell's fiancé in BBC1 Soap Opera EastEnders.-Early life:...

     as Drunken Corporal

Release

The film opened in North American cinemas on September 30, 2002 and grossed $6,857,879 in its opening weekend, making number 5 at the US box office.

See also

  • The Four Feathers (1939 film)
    The Four Feathers (1939 film)
    The Four Feathers is a 1939 adventure film directed by Zoltan Korda, starring John Clements, Ralph Richardson, June Duprez, C. Aubrey Smith. Set in the 1890s during the reign of Queen Victoria, it tells the story of a man accused of cowardice. It is one of a number of adaptations of the 1902 novel...

  • Khartoum
    Khartoum (film)
    Khartoum is a 1966 film written by Robert Ardrey and directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Charlton Heston as General Gordon and Laurence Olivier as the Mahdi and is based on Gordon's defence of the Sudanese city of Khartoum from the forces of the Mahdist army during the Siege of Khartoum.Khartoum...

    , a 1966
    1966 in film
    The year 1966 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Animation legend Walter Disney, well known for his creation of Mickey Mouse, died in 15 December 1966 of acute circulatory collapse following a diagnosis of, and surgery for, lung cancer...

     film dealing with the events leading up to General Gordon's death
  • Highclere Castle
    Highclere Castle
    Highclere Castle is a country house in the Jacobethan style, with park designed by Capability Brown. The 1,000 acre estate is in the English county of Hampshire, about south of the border with Berkshire, and south of Newbury...

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