Desert Storm

It's been two years coming but, after a journey to the screen that would make even the most hardy director blanche, Shekhar Kapur's colonial saga, The Four Feathers, finally arrived in London last night. Taking a decidedly anti-colonial stance in this tale of British imperialism, Kapur went through studio wranglings, the Moroccan desert and certification woes to tell his story, but, now that it's done, he's very pleased he did. " It's redefining a hero, for me. For too long Hollywood has relegated the hero to a man who goes and kills under the guise of patriotism," Kapur told us. "Maybe the time has come for us to get a hero who understands the issues and becomes wise to them. Wisdom is the ultimate goal of being a complete human being, rather than killing someone." Heath Ledger is the wise man in question, a British officer who resigns his commission when his regiment is to be shipped off to fight in the Sudan. Branded a coward by his friends, and presented with four white feathers as a mark of his shame, Ledger journeys to the war disguised as a native to try and redeem his honour. Filming in Morocco had its fair share of logistical difficulties, not least of which the need for a helicopter on standby to ship anyone stung by scorpions to the nearest A&E and the necessity of escorting King Cobras from the set before shooting could commence. "Morocco's great," said Kapur, "it's the desert that's the problem. The desert creates its own environment, it's not like a movie set where you can do what you like." Sharing the desert with him early in the production, however, was the cast and crew of a certain space epic, helmed by George Lucas. "There was a whole Star Wars crew out there. When they realised I was shooting there, the Morocccan crewmembers came over to meet me, hoping I was making a Bollywood film. They were really disappointed that I was shooting an American movie." Accompanying Kapur to the RLFF gala were a number of cast members including Ledger himself, who arrived with current beau, Naomi Watts, on his arm. "I had tonnes of people to help me along," Ledger said of his role as a proper English Gentleman. "I had a great dialect coach - an Irish fellow, funnily enough - and then of course the great English cast that also came down, I was surrounded by great actors, so it made my job really easy. Wes [Bentley] and Djimon [Hounsou] are my best buddies so it was pretty great. We had a lot of fun."