British army officer Harry Feversham chooses to resign just before his platoon are to set sail to Sudan after learning that a British fortress has been attacked over there. When his comrades hear of his desertion, they each present him with a feather (which indicates an act of cowardice). Worse still his fiancee Ethne also gets in on the act. Determined to make a mends Harry heads to the Sudan undercover in order to help his comrades...
Whilst he's depicted as a coward, I saw Harry more as a conscientious objector; he doesn't agree with war, only joined because of his father and wanted to hold back due to his love for Ethne (although he later admitted that he still wouldn't have gone even if he wasn't in a relationship). Receiving the four feathers is what seems to spur Harry in to action (maybe it was a cry for help from his comrades). Naturally Harry's decision to follow them turns out to be a good call as he has a hand in saving at least 2 of his colleagues lives. Along his journey to save his colleagues, he has to go rogue and pretend to be Arabic (although what make up they used round his face in the late 19th century to create this effect is anyone's guess). He's also able to master the Arabic language - again how he achieves this in such a short space of time is another mystery. Still if you can look beyond these things then Four Feathers is a fairly enjoyable romp which walks us through warfare and is nicely complimented by some good camaraderie between the men and some excellent battle sequences. As with a lot of war based films, it's fun and games for a while before things turn serious and this is when you ultimately separate the men from the boys.
Whilst undercover Harry builds up a good relationship with Abou Fatma (played by the brilliant and underrated Djimon Hounsou). The two strike up a good friendship and bounce off one another extremely well; the latter is pivotal in helping Harry and really comes good towards the end.
Whilst I found this film enjoyable there were certain things that niggled away at me; for a start, I didn't like the 'neat and nice' way that the film wrapped up. Jack was sniffing round Ethne from the start and used her estrangement from Harry to try and get with her. Oddly enough, despite not knowing what happened to Harry at this point, she embraces Jack and is set to marry him. When Harry finds out about this, he is very calm and is almost accepting of the situation. I'm sorry, but in no way is this believable?? Ethne was the love of Harry's life and I just can't believe that he would take this lying down; perhaps his conscientious objecting could be interpreted as passivism, but I don't agree if he was a pacifist he wouldn't have gone to great lengths to help his friends. Worse still, Ethne openly admitted that she gave up on Harry and that she shouldn't have done so (which mirrored my viewpoint throughout the film). Although Jack ending up blind may have suggested that we should feel sorry for him I didn't as I never liked him from start to finish and couldn't understand why Ethne would fall for him in the first place?
Anyway I think I've said enough now, but to some up Four Feathers in one sentence I would say "Enjoyable, but flawed."
Whilst he's depicted as a coward, I saw Harry more as a conscientious objector; he doesn't agree with war, only joined because of his father and wanted to hold back due to his love for Ethne (although he later admitted that he still wouldn't have gone even if he wasn't in a relationship). Receiving the four feathers is what seems to spur Harry in to action (maybe it was a cry for help from his comrades). Naturally Harry's decision to follow them turns out to be a good call as he has a hand in saving at least 2 of his colleagues lives. Along his journey to save his colleagues, he has to go rogue and pretend to be Arabic (although what make up they used round his face in the late 19th century to create this effect is anyone's guess). He's also able to master the Arabic language - again how he achieves this in such a short space of time is another mystery. Still if you can look beyond these things then Four Feathers is a fairly enjoyable romp which walks us through warfare and is nicely complimented by some good camaraderie between the men and some excellent battle sequences. As with a lot of war based films, it's fun and games for a while before things turn serious and this is when you ultimately separate the men from the boys.
Whilst undercover Harry builds up a good relationship with Abou Fatma (played by the brilliant and underrated Djimon Hounsou). The two strike up a good friendship and bounce off one another extremely well; the latter is pivotal in helping Harry and really comes good towards the end.
Whilst I found this film enjoyable there were certain things that niggled away at me; for a start, I didn't like the 'neat and nice' way that the film wrapped up. Jack was sniffing round Ethne from the start and used her estrangement from Harry to try and get with her. Oddly enough, despite not knowing what happened to Harry at this point, she embraces Jack and is set to marry him. When Harry finds out about this, he is very calm and is almost accepting of the situation. I'm sorry, but in no way is this believable?? Ethne was the love of Harry's life and I just can't believe that he would take this lying down; perhaps his conscientious objecting could be interpreted as passivism, but I don't agree if he was a pacifist he wouldn't have gone to great lengths to help his friends. Worse still, Ethne openly admitted that she gave up on Harry and that she shouldn't have done so (which mirrored my viewpoint throughout the film). Although Jack ending up blind may have suggested that we should feel sorry for him I didn't as I never liked him from start to finish and couldn't understand why Ethne would fall for him in the first place?
Anyway I think I've said enough now, but to some up Four Feathers in one sentence I would say "Enjoyable, but flawed."