A gripping adventure of epic proportions, "The Four Feathers" is a story of heroic redemption, undying loyalty and rivalry in love. Exquisitely filmed against the austere beauty of the Moroccan desert as well as within the grand walls of English aristocracy, this thrilling tale takes audiences into exotic cultures seldom seen on film and explores the fascinating contrast between disparate civilizations. A sweeping saga that captures a friend's bond and a hero's destiny, "The Four Feathers" is a look at man's indomitable spirit to survive. The story is about Harry Feversham (Heath Ledger), admired by comrades as one of the finest British soldiers in his regiment. Passionately devoted to his beautiful bride-to-be, Ethne (Kate Hudson), Harry has a promising future in the military and a happy life ahead of him with the woman he loves. But when an army of Sudanese rebels attacks a colonial British fortress in Khartoum and his regiment is sent to active duty in North Africa, Harry becomes overwhelmed by self-doubt and uncertainty and resigns his commission as his regiment is being shipped off to war.
Shocked by his son's actions, Harry's father disowns him. Assuming he is afraid, three of Harry's friends -- and even Ethne his fiancee -- each send him a white feather, a symbol of cowardice, none of them able to understand what Harry has done.
Tormented, isolated and alone in London, Harry learns that his best friend Jack (Wes Bentley) and his former regiment have fallen under brutal attack by rebels. Instantly, the bond he has with his comrades inspires him to transcend his uncertainty and self-doubt in order to take on the one mission that is stronger than his resolve against war -- saving his friends at all costs.
Undertaking the perilous journey into the Sudan alone, he strikes up an alliance with Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou), a wise mercenary warrior. Harry then disguises himself as an Arab and goes behind enemy lines to rescue Jack and the rest of his regiment, in an act of unparalleled self-sacrifice and bravery.
"The Four Feathers" takes place during the heyday of imperialism when the nations of Europe were scrambling to divide Africa among themselves. In 1884, a Muslim religious leader, Muhammad Ahmed, known as the Madhi, led the Sudanese Arabs in a revolt against British rule, and General Charles Gordon was dispatched to quell the rebellion. But the Madhi's warriors proved to be too much for Gordon, and he and his men found themselves besieged in Khartoum, which eventually fell in 1885, sending the general and much of his army to their graves.
Inspired by A.E.W. Mason's classic novel, the film begins in 1875, ten years before the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdi's warriors. It is the extraordinary story of the courageous British reinforcement troops sent to raise the siege of Khartoum, and it exemplifies the pride of those young soldiers as well as their vulnerability against an enemy unafraid to die.
"The Four Feathers" is perhaps more contemporary today than ever because of the nation's passion for patriotism, a theme which is at the heart of the film. But while young Harry Feversham is certainly proud to serve his country, he is concerned about fighting blindly in the name of England's imperialist expansion, and that is what sets the film in motion.
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