Review: Four Lions (2010)

Four Lions

Rating

Director

Chris Morris

Screenplay

Chris Morris, Sam Bain, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell

Length

1h 37m

Starring

Riz Ahmed, Arsher Ali, Nigel Lindsay, Kayvan Novak, Adeel Akhtar, Julia Davis, Craig Parkinson, Preeya Kalidas, Wasim Zakir, Mohammad Aqil, Karl Seth

MPAA Rating

Review

How does one make a comedy about terrorism? Either mock the political angle or the religious. Four Lions does a little of both.

It helps that the British are known for tackling taboo subjects in their comedic platforms. Think Life of Brian or Brazil. They have a tolerance for satire that doesn’t always translate across the pond. That’s why a film like Four Lions feels both irreverent and essential.

The story surrounds a group of British Muslims who’ve been radicalized by the treatment they’ve received. Hoping to carry out a massive attack using suicide bombs, martyring themselves, they embark on a journey that is both disturbing and inept, wherein lies the nature of the humor. The film stars two actors who would later become known outside the U.K. Riz Ahmed (Oscar nominee for Sound of Metal) plays Omar, the leader of the group, whose temper often trumps his reason. His doubts eventually lead to indecision which frequently ends with mistakes and reprisals. Kayvan Novak (star of the What We Do in the Shadows TV series) is Waj, Omar’s dim-witted cousin, who has the drive but not the knowledge to carry out their goals.

Within the group of five, there are internal struggles and differences in opinion but their unified goal of bombing the London Marathon guide them forward. While not as slap-sticky as a Monty Python sketch, the shrewd British humor remains an undercurrent in the film with the script by director Chris Morris and co-writers Sam Bain, Jesse Armstrong, and Simon Blackwell. While not as incisive as In the Loop, they share a sense of purpose to ridicule their subjects through a political angle as well as a moral one.

Although the film tackles a challenging subject matter, it handles it with a fine hand, creating empathy for the characters even if their amoral goals don’t align with the audience’s. We see through them the struggles Muslims face in Britain (and around the world) where their otherness pits them against society as a whole, hoping to find a way to get others to take them seriously. This group’s ineptitude is a way to temper the results and make the final act understandable. Where each character ends up fits perfectly into the broader narrative in a linear but sometimes disjointed path. Were there more broad humor, or at least more incisive satire, it might not have felt at times a bit too realistic.

Four Lions asks audiences to understand how seemingly intelligent (not you, Waj) people can turn towards violence as a form of political retribution and emotional acceptance. The viewer doesn’t empathize with the notion of suicide bombing but with the human struggles that can often lead desperate people to do irrational things.