Sheffield, UK. An incompetent terrorist cell plan a suicide bombing.
I’ve seen people on IMDb call this movie ‘sick’. At the risk of generalising, they’re mostly American. Terrorism in the UK, even the 7/7 bombings, has been on a smaller scale and always ‘home grown’. This has frequently gone awry, even comically so (money: John Smeaton, baggage handler, yelled “‘fuckin’ mon, then’ and aimed a kick in the testicles at Kafeel Ahmed”, one of the terrorists who was also the only victim). Chris Morris, the co-writer and director, previously behind the satirical TV shows The Day Today and Brass Eye, isn’t afraid to capitalise on this and turn it into incredibly dark comedy. And I agree. No topic should be off-limits for comedy. If it finds an audience, as Four Lions has both here and in the USA, then it’s not beyond the arbitrary boundaries of “taste” that some morally superior morons (Mary Whitehouse, roll over in your grave now) would seek to set for us. I think what I’m saying is, if we live in a country where this movie cannot be made, the terrorists have won.
Of course, this can build up high expectations for the movie itself, as does the DVD case, blank of all information except the title and director and a bar code on the back. But the film is actually very funny, deriving most of its humour from the gross inconsistencies between the groups’ professed hatred of western values and culture and their indulgence in the very same, and full of great quotes that can raise a smile even (especially) out of context of the film. While we’re laughing at terrorist’s cluelessness, we’re also laughing at Britain’s multicultural society where one of the most militant terrorists can be a white convert to Islam and they all talk in Northern accents and use slang like “bro”. The film doesn’t make a statement on whether this ability to pick and choose “British values” is a good or bad thing beyond just that it’s funny, as any cultural clash can be. I’d say the fact that there isn’t a dominant ideology imposed on everyone who lives here is good; it exposes us to different cultures, opinions, and values and we end up with hopefully a better, more tolerant society (unlike maybe the USA).
The film’s structure is very loose, but it centres around the relationship between the dim but sweet Waj (Kayvan Novak) and his friend Omar (Riz Ahmed), who, while he’s definitely the smartest of the group is still not smart enough to see his company for the imbeciles they are. They go to a training camp in Pakistan, return, and together with Barry (Nigel Lindsay), the convert and most angry, the even dimmer Faisal (Adeel Akhtar), the reluctant Hassan (Arsher Ali), muddle through many slapstick scenes, arguments, and accidents towards their suicide bombing. It’s all shot in a documentary style which I sometimes find annoying but works perfectly here. It’s easy to imagine a few shots from this film slowed down with a Channel 4 announcer saying “Dispatches: Inside A Terrorist Cell” over the top (the ending credits plays around with this).
The dialogue is written and delivered in a naturalist way that sounds like it could have been entirely improvised but probably wasn’t, which to me is one of the hallmarks of good writing and acting. Every characters’ actions and lines all come out of who they are and the situation they’re in, so while the story doesn’t come together until about 40 minutes into the movie, no time feels wasted. There’s also a small but hilarious role (not a cameo, given that when this was made and released Sherlock hadn’t hit yet) for Benedict Cumberbatch, showing what a versatile actor he is. Finally, Warp Films, who produced this film, are becoming one of the most interesting companies in the business in the UK, responsible for Shane Meadows’ This is England, its subsequent TV follow ups ’86 and ’88, Submarine, another film from 2010 that I really enjoyed, and other projects. I really hope they can keep it up at a time when Arts Council funding is being cut and other companies that worked in independent film, such as Optimum, have been downscaling.
A surprisingly sympathetic and funny look at terrorism, not done just for the sake of taboo busting, and the kind of movie that would never be made in the US.
Verdict: Strongly recommend.
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