Terrorism is an
uncomfortable matter. Jihadist violence aimed at the
overthrow of the dominant worldview brings about a dour
tone, especially in film. Since 9/11, and the British bus
bombings, and the slew of other terribly excessive acts of
violence performed in the name of religious beliefs, our
cinemas have been buffeted with films that address the
reasons and consequences of such actions. Overwhelmingly the
films have been dark, serious pieces invoking the fear and
paranoia such acts have wrought over the public
consciousness, the culture of fear we’ve come to live in,
the good versus evil mentality we’ve so readily come to
accept. Four Lions, the debut film from Brit
Christopher Morris, bucks these stagnant trends, instead
finding humor, pathos and eventually sadness and reason in
the bumbling terrorism attempts of four would-be jihadists,
becoming one of the best films of the year in the process.
Review - Four Lions
Omar, Waj,
Barry, and Fessal (Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay,
Adeel Akhtar) are four London-born Muslims who’ve a
hankering to blow themselves up in the name of Allah. To
give away anymore would be to rob you the pleasure of the
tightly plotted script. To say the least, foibles and
follies occur amongst the group, and their plans to blow up
a prominent London event, goes right and wrong and
everywhere in between.
What Morris does exactly right in Four Lions is
introduce to a quartet of characters that fill out the
common comedic tropes as well as address the sort of
lingering stereotypes of the sleeper cell suicide bombers.
Omar is the dutiful leader, with family and friends, who’s
adapted to the British way of life, but feels pulled towards
to make right for his religion. Waj and Fessal are the
bumbling, sort of avante-garde outliers of the terrorist
group (a scene where Fessal attempts to explain how he
purchased 14 bottles of bomb chemical without seeming
obvious still makes me laugh), seemingly attached to the
idea of blowing something up only because somebody told them
it was the right thing to do. Finally, Barry is the radical
fundamentalist, the fist-shaking screamer who’s abandon
common sense for dogma and continues to push the plot of the
film in more and more hilarious directions. Each character
firmly fits their role, but is never bound by the
stereotypical edges. The writing in the film allows these
characters room to breath and evolve and change as they
become closer and closer to the task at hand.
Christopher Morris does an exceptional job of creating a
film that rides the line of outrage and hilarity. A film
about terrorism is expected to be grim, but by inserting us
in to the front lines of "other side" we as first-world film
consumers are forced to deal with not only the level of
uncomfortableness that derives from giggling at a quartet of
terrorists crafting bombs but also from the idea that I at
least, grew attached to these characters. I do not in any
way agree with violent retribution in any way whatsoever,
but when the film ended and the proverbial smoke cleared,
the decisions these characters had made seemed, if not
correct, justified. The ability to make a film that rattles
a viewer while simultaneously drawing belly laughs is as
difficult a task as any, and Morris ably accomplishes it,
never poking fun at Muslim faith, or honestly deriding the
idea of religion-based terrorism. Instead he presents us
with well-developed characters who make decisions based on
very human reactions to the way the world presents itself.
And when Jihadism and its awful after-effects are placed in
such well-reasoned light, it allows for the chance for a gap
to be bridged in both our thinking and our own reactions.
Noah Sanders is the blog/news editor at Light In The
Attic and a contributor at Sound On The Sound and
the KEXP blog. He also has his own
Criterion-based film site, Criterion Quest.
If you'd like to contact Noah in regards to his
writings here at Side One: Track One then please do
so
here.
- Noah Sanders
-
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