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THE FOUR FEATHERS
"'Feathers' so grandly plays out the imperialist
fraternity of the British Army that it's as if Mr. Kapur were making
a commercial for a way of life that no one misses...The picture's
wheezing fussiness and devotion to the British empire and its minor
nods to questioning unthinking loyalty to an ideal make 'The Four
Feathers' a possible first of a kind: a movie that's halfhearted
about ambivalence." --
Elvis Mitchell,
The New York Times
"I do not require Kapur to be a revisionist anti-imperialist; it's
just that I don't expect a director born in India to be quite so fond
of the British Empire...It looks good, it moves quickly and it is
often a jolly good time. As mindless swashbuckling in a well-designed
production, it can't be faulted. The less you know about the British
Empire and human nature, the more you will like it." -- Roger
Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"The story gives ample opportunity for large-scale action and suspense,
which director Shekhar Kapur supplies with tremendous skill. It also
raises larger issues, related to colonialism and the morality of war,
that Kapur treats with less enthusiasm...Kapur handles the film's
spectacular elements with sure-handed expertise. The colors are resplendent,
the settings and costumes ring with authenticity, and every hoof-beat
of every horse is flawlessly filmed and edited. As an exercise in
sheer craft, 'The Four Feathers' is the movie to beat this season."
-- David Sterritt, Christian Science
Monitor
"The new 'Four Feathers' is as intent on showing British savagery
and stupidity as in depicting traditional heroism. The film even departs
from previous versions by giving Harry a Tonto-like sidekick, Abou
Fatma ('Amistad's; Djimon Hounsou), without whose help he could never
have survived...Whether this is progress or not is unclear, but it
is different...Empire may not have been as glorious as the Victorians
imagine, but does it have to be this taxing?" --
Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times
"As the West now stands on the brink of a major war in the Middle
East, there's a positively eerie timeliness to Shekhar Kapur's splendidly
spectacular, intelligent and very well-acted new version of 'The Four
Feathers,' that century-old classic of sacrifice, bravery and loyalty
in the Arabian desert...At its best, 'The Four Feathers' recalls the
consummate craftsmanship and irony-free storytelling of Hollywood's
Golden Age." -- Lou Lumenick, The
New York Post
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