Director: Chris Morris
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay & Kayvan Novak
Chris Morris’ feature film debut certainly doesn’t avoid sensitive subjects but those fearing an outright offensive attempt at making a “Jihadist comedy” need not worry as while some laughs come from shock value, there is surprising insight into the confused culture clashes that can lead to fanaticism in addition to humour.
When Chris Morris announced his intentions to make a comedy surrounding a suicide attack in Britain, there was much concern over the sensitivity of the issue with some groups sending Morris threats should he release a film that may mock Muslims and their faith. Such worries arose in light of Morris’ own history with the TV series The Day Today and Brass Eye which, through mock interviews and news broadcasts, mocked many sensitive subjects including a TV special on paedophiles. Four Lions however, while no doubt able to offend some, is actually surprisingly sensitive to some of the issues surrounding the people who become involved in such attacks and how they come to be involved. There is a lot of humour too as Morris finds the bumbling nature of the inexperienced and uneducated that are often talked into committing such attacks as a source for farce with many effective laughs that can be funny, sad and shocking all at once.
Four Muslim men: Omar (Ahmed), a young father and husband who routinely mocks his own brother’s adherence to their shared faith yet is angered enough by the mistreatment from non-Muslims that he plans to strike at them, leads the group along with his dim-witted friend Waj (Novak), even more naïve Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) who prefers to train crows to be bombers, and Barry (Lindsey) who has converted to Islam and wishes to bomb a Mosque to enrage to Muslim community into action, plan to launch a suicide attack in their home country of Britain. After Omar and Waj go to a training camp in Pakistan and return failures, the group, now joined by enthusiastic idealist Hassan (Arsher Ali), decide to plan an attack anyway with the aim of joining the London Marathon in costumes with which they can conceal their bombs but their own incompetence may not even see them get that far.
Avoiding the temptation to paint its characters as unsympathetic idealists out to kill and martyr themselves or to attack Islam as a cause for such actions, Chris Morris actually makes his characters surprisingly sympathetic and demonstrates that those drawn into committing terrorist acts can often be the naïve and uneducated whose confusion and naivety is exploited into making them believe they are committing righteous acts. The sources from where the character’s come from are also surprising as they all, Omar and Waj especially, come from moderate backgrounds and for whose culture is a mixture of Muslim and Western values as brought about by having lived their lives in Britain. The most extreme member of the group, Barry, is white and recent convert to Islam who is seemingly embracing the religion as a way to justify his own anti-Semitism and wish to lash out with violence. When taking Omar and Waj to a training camp in Pakistan they face insult and ridicule from soldiers their who see them as English and further highlights a conflict of culture amongst Western-living/Western-born Muslim's who face persecution for being Muslim but never truly receive respect from hardliners in Muslim nations despite their attempts to ingratiate themselves. It is this conflict that has led some of these characters to embark upon their mission and who see themselves as being heroes once they become martyrs. While characters like Faisal and Waj are drawn in due to their lack of intelligence and Hassan's idealism is expolited by the agressive Barry, it is Omar's commitment that strikes the strongest chord. Omar's stable family life and moderate views on Islam as seen by his attitudes towards his brother raises questions over how this became his mission that are never adequately answered or why his wife would be so supportive but while this can be frustrating it also serves to shake preconceptions on radicals in that Omar is a very sympathetic character. While possessing unique insights, unexpected with the emphasis on the film being a comedy, and maturity, Four Lions is also very very funny with Morris also unafraid to exploit the farcical aspects surrounding the attempts that such plots, when not properly planned (as recalled by an attempt to drive a car into an airport) through pratfalls and the ridiculous promises of a martyr's death for many involved in such acts with some very funny one liners thrown in with "Fuck Mini-Babybels" a battle cry for one character yet through all the laughs and the moments of calm and sympathy, Morris is keen to remind us that such people are still very dangerous.
The cast of Four Lions is particularly impressive. Riz Ahmed stands out in the lead role of Omar who, whilst seemingly the smartest and most grounded of the group, is sympathetic yet still clearly misguided having fallen into the same lie of there being honour in what he is about to do, who also later feels guilt at bringing in more innocents like Waj and Faisal. Ahmed delivers a performance that quite rightly marks him as a British talent to watch in the future. Amongst the rest of the cast we have hilarious performances from Kayvan Novak (TV's Fonejacker) who gets most of the best lines as the dim-witted Waj whose reconciliation of his Western-upbringing and fundamentalist values is the most confused of the group and then there's Nigel Lindsay as Barry who portray's the character's hate and bluster in a manner that is at one time hilarious and then can quickly turn intimidating.
In the face of controversy, Four Lions stands out as being far more respectful of what leads its protagonists towards the actions they take than might be expected and offers an often mature looks at the conflicts of culture that some face when reconciling more moderate, Western values with fundamentalist ones. Four Lions is also very very funny with great one-liners, outstanding moments of farce and many moments that are funny, sad and shocking in equal measure poking ridicule at the idea of Jihadists being criminal masterminds without ever forgetting that they are still a danger and also human beings that have been misled through anger and conflicts of identity. Funny, smart, still potentially offensive but daring and worth seeing.
Rating: 4/5
