FOUR LIONS - film review
rehna May 8th, 2010
After seeing FOUR LIONS you won’t be able to watch another video of a jihadist ‘martyr’ again with a straight face.
I laughed out loud 5 times during the premiere screening of FOUR LIONS and remained amused throughout the film until the last 10 minutes when the farce came to a moving and inevitable end.
That level of humour is not bad for a film about terrorism. Yes, Four lions is a comedy and a damn funny one too in a tragic sort of way. Tragic because a whole generation of young Muslims have been brainwashed into accepting that violence is an integral part of their religion. Pointless violence at that.
Yes, pointless.
British Muslims have a good life in this country and for them to want to blow it up for some undefined ‘jihad’ is one of the great tragedies of our age.
FOUR LIONS is the story of four bungling extremists who aspire to kill innocent strangers for some thing, although they’re not quite sure what. They use all the usual extremist language; imperialist war, consumer society, wicked women blah, blah blah but when one of the 4 dimwits passionately shouted ‘yeah, fuck mini babybels’ it brought the house down. That’s when you realize the sheer absurdity of all the posturing with guns and threats to destroy western civilization.
The not very bright, aspiring jihadis, Omar, Waj, Faisal and Barry, a nutjob white Islamic convert, embark upon a mission to strike a blow for Islam through blowing something up. They have no policies, no demands, no ideology, they’re just desperate to blow something up (and presumably lock up their women after covering them in black shrouds).
They blunder from one farcial set-up to another.
Writer, director Chris Morris who spent 4 years meticulously researching the subject and clearly knows it inside out, locates the humour in the horror and so better reflects the insanity of their actions.
Starting with a useless attempt by the 4 idiots to make a martyrdom video in their broad northern accents, the film doesn’t let up in its understanding of the whole culture of violence in the name of Islam. These wannabe British suicide bombers can’t even agree what their objectives are, let alone what their targets should be.
The story is sharp and well observed but the film is given its heart by brilliant performances by the main actors. Riz Ahmed who plays family man Omar is a revelation as he superbly captures the nuances of a disturbed and fanatical mind but one in which there is still the vestige of a conscience. His final scenes are genuinely touching and make us almost sympathize with Omar.
Nigel Lindsay as Barry is hilarious in a truly scary way. He really is the most nutty of the four. For example he is so desperate to prove his zeal that he decides bombing a mosque will be the best way to unite and radicalise the ummah and bring about all out war.
But Kayvan Novak as Waj just steals the show. Plain stupid rather than evil he has been sufficiently confused by the extemist rhetoric to come to believe that martyrdom will be like the “rubber dinghy rapids” ride at Alton Towers.
Four Lions is not a classic comedy but it is a damn intelligent and brave one. This is a film you have to see.
- The Movie Salon
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