SADDAM HUSSEIN’S LATEST “MUST” READING IS THE SIXTH REMAKE OF A BRITISH NOVEL
Titles at the beginning of The Four Feathers tell us that in 1884 the British Empire extended over one-fourth of the globe, that young British men were expected to fight for their country, and that a white feather was a symbol of cowardice. The film’s director, Shekhar Kapur, may have enjoyed portraying British arrogance and racism, but the screenplay is the sixth film version of the century-old novel of the same title by A.E.W. Mason. When the film begins, a love triangle quickly emerges, with Jack Dorrance (played by Wes Bentley) obviously disappointed when the engagement of Harry Febersham (played by Heath Ledger) to Ethne (played by Kate Hudson) is announced. Harry and Jack are members of the Royal Cumbrian Regiment, a reserve unit that can be called to duty at any time. No sooner is the engagement announced than the order comes down that the regiment is to ship out to the Sudan, where the Mahdi is threatening to overwhelm British interests in the Middle East. Those who have seen Khartoum (1966) will be already familiar with the threat, in which a Moslem leader in the Sudan declares a jihad against British imperialism that had the potential for uniting the entire Moslem or at least Arab world, but The Four Feathers spares filmviewers of the megalomaniacal motivations of the Moslems. Harry, however, questions the need for such an adventure, and he insists on resigning his commission. His buddies in the regiment then send him a box containing four white feathers with three namecards; Jack’s namecard is absent. Who placed the fourth feature in the box? Ethne, meanwhile, is unhappy about his decision, knowing that marriage to a coward will bring ostracism to the couple. Harry takes steps to reenlist by approach his father, a military hero, but the latter disowns him. Harry then decides to go to the Sudan himself, hoping to join the regiment in some sort of unofficial capacity. However, to make the trip from Khartoum, he pays a merchant who is delivering slaves, male and female, along the way, to take him to his destination, but the merchant exacts one condition–that Harry must dress like a nomadic Arab. Later, when the merchant is attacked by bandits and killed, Harry nearly dies as well, but he is saved by Abou Fatma (played by Djimon Hounsou), one of the slaves. The two then trek across the vast desert together. While Harry tries to infiltrate the Mahdi’s army, he sends Abou to warn his regiment, but instead the commander treats him as a spy and flogs him. During the battle Abou is set free, but soon the entire regiment is overwhelmed, most are taken prisoner, and the prisoners are buried in a pit that could be called The Killing Sands. Jack, though blinded in the battle, escapes with the help of Harry, who does not identify himself to Jack. When Jack returns to England, there is no word from Harry, who is presumed dead. Jack then marries Ethne. Harry, after escaping from the killing sands, returns to England, and a scene with Victorian unrequited love is inevitable. As an epic, The Four Feathers is full of action, drama, with a love story to boot, but Americans will probably miss the point that any invasion of an Arab country by non-Arabs is bound to lead to disaster. The novel has doubtless been read many times in Baghdad. MH