Broad themes – courage, patriotism, warfare – dressed up in Lawrence of Arabia finery. Heath Ledger stars as a British officer who suddenly quits his post on the eve of an 1898 mission to the English colony of the Sudan, while the likes of Wes Bentley and Kate Hudson lend solid support as the fiance and friend who detest his cowardice. Shekhar Kapur, who directed the equally lush Elizabeth, makes the movie swoon, but it’s murky moral concerns remain unexplored.
