THE FOUR FEATHERS
Directed by Shekhar Kapur
Starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson
Playing at CineMark 12 in Hadley

It has been a common trend of late that film directors who make a huge impact on the cinema with their debut movie cannot copy the same success with their follow-up. Look at what happened to John Madden, the Academy-Award winner for Shakespeare In Love; he went into his sophomore slump with the abysmal Nicolas Cage drama Captain Correlli’s Mandolin last summer. Sam Mendes, who helmed American Beauty returned this past summer with the Tom Hanks vehicle Road to Perdition, which was by no means a disaster, but a disappointment to many from two such talented men.

Shekhar Kapur, similarly, is another young director who burst onto the scene with 1998’s Elizabeth, a movie that (dare I say it?) made British history exciting. The film was nominated for a slew of awards and brazenly stated that Kapur had a lot of potential in Hollywood.

Which leads us to his new film, The Four Feathers, based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason. The movie has been remade several times, but a new revitalization by Kapur gives it an interesting spin once more. The director was born and raised in India when it was controlled by the British, and since The Four Feathers is all about British expansionism and rule, it could have given the traditional story a rather unconventional angle. Disappointingly, the original story is left intact and remains one-sided, much like its predecessors and the novel on which it is based. Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert stated in his review of this movie that, “The less you know about the British Empire…the more you will like [the movie].” His comment is mostly true, because while the film is at times exciting and moving, there is a nagging sensation left over from the apparent absence of invention and political correctness. Luckily, with a target-audience aimed at a younger crowd, judging by its youthful stars, British history is probably not at the forefront of the viewer’s mind.

But to the story itself: Harry Faversham (Ledger) is engaged to be married to the beautiful Estne Eustace (Hudson) when he learns that his group of soldiers in the British army are shipping out to act as reinforcements in the Sudan where a fort has been taken over. Whether it’s due to Harry’s upcoming wedding, or just out of plain fear, it’s never made truly clear why he abandons his friends and leaves the army. Each of these “friends” sends him a white feather, symbolizing cowardice and then later his wife-to-be does the same. With these four feathers in hand, and being disowned by his gung-ho father, Harry sets off for the desert to return each feather to the friends who slighted him, to prove that he’s no wimp, and to save his friend Jack (Bentley) in the process. Jack has not given up hope on Harry, and clings to the idea that the latter is still a good soldier and honest person, yet the same cannot be said for Jack since he wastes no time in romancing Harry’s fianc