Gorilla Pants Review - The Four Feathers (2002)

The Four Feathers
review by Melissa Prusi

The Four Feathers - Wes Bentley and Heath Ledger

"Enough of the manly bonding, Harry. Let's go to war."

It was a time of silly dances and silly wars.

The Four Feathers tells a story of adventure and intrigue, disgrace and redemption, tea and crumpets, set against the backdrop of Victorian England and its empire. It stars Heath Ledger as Harry Feversham, an officer in Her Majesty’s army. Things are going well for Harry: he’s engaged to the lovely Ethne (Kate Hudson), and his best friend, Jack, (Wes Bentley) hardly minds at all, in spite of the fact that he’s in love with the woman himself. Then it’s announced that their regiment is being sent to the Sudan to fight for queen and country and Harry, who never wanted to be a soldier in the first place, resigns his commission.

The four feathers of the title are given to him by three of his fellow officers and the disillusioned Ethne as symbols of cowardice. Ashamed, Harry travels to the Sudan, disguises himself as an Arab and goes undercover to redeem himself in the fight against people who don’t seem to realize they’re supposed to roll over and become loyal subjects of the British Empire.

The Four Feathers - Djimon Hounsou

Crucifixion imagery? No, probably not.

The Four Feathers works on a number of levels. For one thing, there truly is some grand adventure here and director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) presents it with all the sweep and splendor due an epic. Kapur delivers magnificently staged battle scenes, make-or-break rides across the desert and sun-drenched sand dunes that stretch on as far as a helicopter shot can see. Harry must overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to save his friends (just keeping himself in black hair dye must have been quite a chore) and it makes for an engaging – if implausible – story.

There are also fine performances. Heath Ledger displays maturity and depth in a role that requires him to be both thinking man and action hero. Wes Bentley is impressively intense as he faces the horrors of war, though his British accent went MIA a few times. The most vibrant performance is Djimon Hounsou’s (Amistad) as a fierce warrior who comes to Harry’s aid. He has a commanding screen presence and the movie’s most sympathetic role. Kate Hudson, however, is wasted in a part that requires little besides prettiness.

"Bring me a grande cappucino or I'll kill you where you stand."

Where the movie stumbles is in its ambivalent attitude toward its subject matter. Early in the film lip-service is paid to the idea that perhaps this isn’t a battle that’s worth fighting, but it’s soon overpowered by Harry’s repeated affirmation that, yes, he really was just a coward and a real man would have marched off with his regiment like a good soldier, no matter what the cause. This may have been true to the movie’s source material, a novel written by A.E.W. Mason in a time not too far removed from the book’s setting, but for a modern audience it rings hollow. I, for one, would have gladly traded a little of the movie’s pomp and grandeur for a more thoughtful examination of Harry’s dilemma. I also could have used a bit less of the over-wrought love triangle. And, really, one ending would have been enough. As it stands, The Four Feathers is less a masterpiece than it is a big-screen "Masterpiece Theatre."

Now available on DVD

Commentary, featurettes, lots of sand and stiff upper lips.
Buy it now from Amazon.com

Or you could try the book:

The Four Feathers
by A.E.W. Mason
The 1902 novel that started it all.
Buy it now from Amazon.com

Gorilla Pants recommends . . .

. . . a better Wes Bentley film

American Beauty (1999)

"Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in."
Buy it now from Amazon.com

Gorilla Pants rating: 1.5 out of 4 bananas

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