Director Shekhar Kapur followed the unexpectedly successful "Elizabeth" with something few filmmakers (it was nominated for seven Academy Awards) possess today: Patience. After a delay of four years the Indian director has finally made his second American film and it was well worth the wait.

"The Four Feathers" tells a story has been brought to the screen (big and small) six times before, sometimes successfully but mostly in less than adequate style. The story is so attractive to filmmakers because it features so many fascinating plot elements, such as British classicism, imperialism, battle strategy, military unrest and unlikely friendships between dissimilar persons but most of all because in the end it is the love story at its heart that rises above the rest.

Young officer Harry Haversham (Heath Ledger) has been prepped his whole for the military life by his father, a general. Harry detests this forced lifestyle but accepts it because his friends go through it with him and because his fianc