“Four Lions,” a dark British comedy about suicide bombers (yes, you read that correctly). Four would-be jihadis – all British-born and bred – have formed their own little London cell, despite al-Qaeda’s apparent lack of interest in their activities. They argue about the meaning of Islam and jihad, while they go about the inept planning of their own martyrdom. It’s brilliantly, darkly funny at times (including the scene of a suicide bomber being prematurely detonated when he chokes on something and receives an impromptu Heimlich from a passerby), though undoubtedly bound to be controversial for making light of this deadly subject. (Still, as someone who prides himself on being able to decipher even the thickest British accent, I can honestly say that I missed big chunks of dialogue and decided this is a film that should consider subtitling before it’s offered to American audiences.)
Getting motion sickness from a shaky camera? That's the least cool thing I've ever heard.
Chris Morris goes for extreme laughs and perilous political incorrectness in Four Lions, a farce about a gang of British Islamic terrorists who can’t bomb straight. Daring and potentially offensive, this hilarious satire may be too biting for its own good.Four Lions treads on the limits of what distributors and broadcasters might tolerate. Commercial potential should be good in the UK, where Morris is better-known, while a US release may be limited to urban arthouses and cable comedy channels for young audiences – if lawsuits from opponents don’t shelve the film first. Media attention might help build a public appetite for Four Lions, however, as it seems certain to be labeled anti-Islamic and irresponsible toward the terror threat in the UK.The “Four Lions” are four would-be jihadists who band together in London to redress mistreatment of Muslims as they plan a decisive bombing to send the world a message. As with most plans by amateurs, these terror gambits go wrong at every turn, culminating in some major blunders.The farce’s madcap pace has much in common with classic Three Stooges episodes, and with Armando Iannucci’s political satire, In the Loop, yet Four Lions focuses more on violence, using the rebels’ hare-brained bombing plans for its gags. The film’s scenes of destruction are some of its funniest – and potentially most controversial.Proving that terrorists are people too, the cast juggles the testy mix of anger, credulity, dogmatism and incompetence that make failure a foregone conclusion. These wild scenes would be safely and preposterously unimaginable, if recent troubling events in the news did not resemble the satire’s fiction.
In the opening scene of “Four Lions,” a group of British would-be terrorists attempt in vain to make the ideal suicide tape. It’s not the first time that such risqué bloopers have been depicted in narrative form - both “Paradise Now” and the short-lived Showtime series “Sleeper Cell” contained similar moments - but it’s certainly the funniest. Chris Morris’s tragicomic portrait of jihad gone awry zips along with many of these contemporary references points in the service of humor, yet pulls off an unlikely feat by avoiding any kind of outright spoof. The characters are no laughing matter; instead, their bumbling tendencies suggest a universal human fragility: The joke is on all of us.Shot with a handheld documentary style, “Four Lions” contains an engine of rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of last year’s hit British satire, “In the Loop.” Similar to that movie’s wink-and-nod snapshot of political mismanagement, situational comedy meets a dramatic counterpoint. The quartet of Islamic radicals in Morris’s movie fully believe in the vitality of their mission, which serves to create a grave undertone throughout the story. They seem so likable — so like us! — that the impending possibility of their collective demise creates an almost unbearable tension.The anchor of the plot involves two jihadists with opposing perspectives: A cool-headed young leader in possession of the intellectual drive to get the job done, and a brutish pundit whose incompetence continually dooms the group’s plans. “I’m the most Al-Qaida of all,” he insists, embodying the pathetic need to belong that often guides blind ideology.Morris’s brilliant direction notwithstanding, his plot does suffer from a malady similar to the one plaguing the aforementioned pundit. The team fails to center on a target for their imagined violence, and nobody bothers to explain a precise motive. Like “In the Loop,” the specifics are left to viewers’ imagination, but in this case that limits the extent to which their conundrum feels credible. Coupled with a few uneven plot holes (particularly the leader’s ultra-supportive but apparently level-headed wife), “Four Lions” stops just short of becoming a masterpiece. But it comes *this* close. Morris, a popular British comedian known for his offbeat antics, crafts an unusually endearing chemistry shared by his goofball freedom fighters that harkens back to “The Three Musketeers” in its rudimentary entertainment value, while at the same time delivering a bleak backdrop that informs each scene. Impending doom is rarely this much fun to watch.Although the director refuses to color in the details of his subjects’ clandestine plot, satire lingers just outside the frame. Morris views terrorism as a complex bureaucratic process comparable to many others, but stops just short of sympathizing with its failed ambitions. Instead, with the barrage of tactical misfires, he implies that the whole system suffers from internal dysfunction. The off-the-cuff dialogue leaves plenty of room for interpretation, but Morris’s overarching perspective is obvious. As the opening scene concludes, the leader makes an astute observation about the unfinished suicide tape: “They’re all bloopers,” he says, perhaps understanding more about his situation than he would like to admit.
Remember - that little YouTube pixel sized 'juddery shake' will be magnified considerably on the big screen. Take a sick bag with you.
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Now everyone's job is to cross their fingers that Chris agrees to come on my radio show today or tomorrow.
*crosses fingers*While you're here I'd like to thank you for TSOYA - the shows are excellent.
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Topic: Four Lions to premiere at Sundance (Read 21904 times) Share
