Four Lions (2010)

This week’s Orange Wednesday trip to Vue took in the British film Four Lions, a hilarious comedy about a group of inept, Sheffield-based, would-be suicide bombers. It’s written and directed by Chris Morris, the warped mind behind The Day Today and Brass Eye, so it’s not surprising that the content matter is a little explosive. I think it would be difficult to be offended by this film though, despite the theme – the humour comes from the stupidity and interaction between these characters, there is no criticism of Islam or its followers.

Morris looks at the absurdities of fundamentalists, and he pointedly never gets drawn into any real discussion about why these guys are planning to blow something up for their cause. They spout off about the evils of Boots and Mini Babybels but at the same time enjoy their middle class, comfortable lives. They’re rebels without a cause, or at least they’ve only a vague notion of their cause. Omar is the leader of the group, and the more-or-less sensible one, although his calm discussion of jihad with his wife and son is unsettling. His brother, Waj, is the funniest in the film, a real dim wit – he likens the adventure of martyrdom to the ‘rubber dinghy rapids’ ride at Alton Towers and cannot tell the difference between a chicken and a rabbit.

Barry is the only white member of the group, and he’s also the most fundamental, or at least has the most extreme ideas (such as blowing up a mosque) and the most anger – this last flaw generates most of his humour. Fessal is the less developed of the group, and he’s also quite sweet… until he falls over a wall carrying explosives, taking out a sheep on the way, as well as himself. It’s the funniest death I’ve ever seen in a film, which is an odd thing to say… It’s inevitable that these characters will all die (or is it? After all, they are incredibly inept), but I wasn’t expecting Fessal to go so soon, or so funnily.

The group eventually settles on blowing themselves up at the London Marathon, and taking out participants as they do so, for maximum exposure. Dressed variously as Honey Monster, an upside down clown, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and a Bernie Clifton-style ostrich, one of their members is blown up early before he bottles out, and the other 3 run around ‘London’ trying to avoid detection. The police mistakenly shoot a runner dressed as a Wookie when told one of the suspects is dressed as a bear, setting up some neat gags about how hopeless the police are, as well as the terrorists.

The film ends on something of a downbeat note, after the death of his lovable but dim brother, Omar, who was ready to give up on the suicide-bomber business, reluctantly enters a Boots branch and detonates his bomb. It’s a curious ending for a comedy that also points to the seriousness of the subject matter – something that is also highlighted by the fact that innocent bystanders do get hurt – a lesser comedy would only be comfortable showing the bombers injuring themselves, but Morris is brave enough to mix in collateral damage to drive home the consequences of martyrdom. This is the best British film I’ve seen since In The Loop last year, and these 2 are both miles more consistently funny than any movie that Hollywood has put out for a while.