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The Four Feathers
Directed by	Shekhar Kapur
Produced by	Stanley Jaffe Marty Katz Paul Feldsher
Written by	A.E.W. Mason Michael Shiffer Hossein Amini
Starring	Heath Ledger Wes Bentley Djimon Hounsou Kate Hudson
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA) Miramax Films (non-USA)
Release date(s)	2002
Running time	131 min.
Language	English

The Four Feathers is a 2002 drama film directed by Shekhar Kapur, starring Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Djimon Hounsou and Kate Hudson. Set during the British army's Gordon Relief Expedition (late 1884 to early 1885) in Sudan, it tells the story of a young man accused of cowardice.

This film, with altered plot events, is the latest in a long line of cinematic dramatizations of the original 1902 novel The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason. Other versions of the story have been set in the 1890s, with different battle events.

Harry Faversham, a young British officer of the Royal Cumbrians infantry regiment and the son of a stern British general, celebrates his recent engagement to the beautiful young Ethne in a lavish ball with his fellow officers and his father in attendance. When the regimental colonel announces that the regiment is being dispatched to Egyptian-ruled Sudan to rescue the British general Charles "Chinese" Gordon (who was being besieged in Khartoum by Islamic rebels of The Mahdi), young Faversham becomes nervous and resigns his officer commission. The night before his resignation he asks Jack Durrance, "What does a godforsaken desert, in the middle of nowhere, have to do with Her Majesty the queen?" Although he claims to have quit the army in order to stay in England with new fiancee because he would never "go to war for anyone or anything", he is nonetheless censured by three fellow officers (other than Faversham's closest friend and comrade Jack Durrance) for cowardice (as signified by the delivery of three white feathers to him). He also loses the support of his fiancee Ethne, who presents him with the fourth feather. Lastly, he is disowned by his strict father.

The young Faversham questions his own true motives and resolves to redeem himself through combat in the Sudan. Disguised as an Arab labourer, he pays a French slave trader to take him deep into the Sudanese desert. Faversham is left alone in the vast sands when the slave trader is killed by his own Sudanese slaves. Eventually a lone black Sudanese warrior named Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou), who is against the Mahdists' rebellion, locates the abandoned Faversham who had fallen unconscious from heat exhaustion. With the help of this unexpected guide, Faversham locates his old regiment but maintains an observing distance from his former comrades. Faversham sends Abou to warn the British about an upcoming attack, but Abou is whipped for claiming that a British officer had sent him, although it was true. When Mahdist rebels attack the regiment during the Battle of Abu Klea, the British square formation is broken by enemy cavalry and young Faversham rescues Jack Durrance (who had just been blinded by a rifle misfire) as the British forces rout.

Upon learning that another comrade had been captured by the Mahdist rebels, Faversham goes to the prison-fortress at Omdurman and allows himself to be taken in. He locates his comrade inside the prison amidst a sea of other prisoners and, with the help of Abou Fatma, escapes from the rebels. His courageous exploits in the Sudan puts him back in the good graces of his comrades, his fiancee and his father. Meanwhile, the warrior guide who had helped the young Faversham redeem his manhood disappears into the vast Sudanese desert.

This 2002 film by Shekhar Kapur differs from the 1939 film by Zoltan Korda and the original 1902 novel by A.E.W. Mason in historical time setting. Kapur's film takes place in 1884/1885 when British soldiers were sent to the Sudan to rescue Charles "Chinese" Gordon who was being besieged by the Mahdists in Khartoum. The big action scene is the Battle of Abu Klea (January 17, 1885) where the Mahdist rebels broke through the famous British square battle formation. Unlike in the film however, the British actually won this battle decisively, suffering only 76 fatalities to well over 1,100 Mahdist ones.

Korda's film and Mason's novel are set in 1898 when British soldiers were sent to the Sudan to avenge Charles "Chinese" Gordon who had been killed by the Mahdist rebels in Khartoum about fourteen years prior. The big action scene is the Battle of Omdurman (September 2, 1898) where the Mahdist rebels were annihilated by the British. On a further note, Kapur's film depicts the British soldiers wearing red uniforms, when they would have actually worn more suitable khaki ones when serving in desert regions like the Sudan. In the earlier Sudan campaign of 1885 British units disembarked in red uniforms. However, the red coat was unsuitable for the Sudanese climate, so the red coat was soon discarded and all frontline troops were issued khaki.

At one point after the British defeat at Abu Klea, one of the main characters referrs to Harry (dressed as a native) as a "Wog". This is an anachronism, as the word "Wog" was derived from the name "Golliwog", itself not introduced to the world until 1895.

• The Four Feathers (1939 film)
• Khartoum (film) - A 1966 film dealing with the events leading up to General Gordon's death

• The Four Feathers at the Internet Movie Database