Four Lions / Fur Four Lions (2010)

×

Four Lions / Fur Four Lions (2010)

Close

Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce. In a storm of razor-sharp verbal jousting and large-scale set pieces, Four Lions is a comic tour de force; it shows that-while terrorism is about ideology-it can also be about idiots.

Vier junge britische Manner sind im Auftrag Allahs unterwegs. Meinen sie. Omar (Riz Ahmed) will sich dem Heiligen Krieg anschlie?en, weil er nicht langer tatenlos zuschauen will, wie das Ansehen junger Moslems auf der Welt mit Fu?en getreten wird. Waj (Kayvan Novak) halt das fur eine gute Idee und schlie?t sich an, weil er nichts Besseres zu tun hat ? au?erdem trifft Omar ohnehin immer alle Entscheidungen fur ihn. Barry (Nigel Lindsay) ist als wei?er islamischer Konvertit zwar vollig anderer Meinung, aber das macht nichts, denn das ist er grundsatzlich. Aus Prinzip. Als Bombenbauer sto?t Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) zu der Truppe, der allerdings nicht als Selbstmordattentater in Frage kommt, weil sein Vater gerade krank geworden ist. Gemeinsam sind sie fest entschlossen, die westliche Gesellschaft dort zu treffen, wo es weh tut. Fragt sich nur, ob sie ein Streichholz anzunden konnen, ohne sich dabei im Gesicht zu verletzen…

×

Four Lions / Fur Four Lions (2010)

Close

Anglophiles may also recognize the comedic talents of co-writers Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, and Simon Blackwell, who—in various collaboratory arrangements - have penned the brilliant TV shows Peep Show, Nathan Barley, and The Thick of It, along with last year's Thick feature film spin-off, the acclaimed international diplomacy bust-up In the Loop. The latter, which drew near-universal comparisons to Dr. Strangelove, is most similar to Four Lions in tone and style. Both are bleak black comedies that satirize seemingly untouchable hot-button topics. Where In the Loop spoofs the lead-up to the War on Terror by turning the political powerhouses of Washington and London into zoos for self-serving middle-management buffoons, Four Lions brazenly takes on terrorism itself, making a mockery of martyrdom. I'm almost surprised the filmmakers haven't been slapped with a death-to-the-infidels-style fatwa from some fanatical religious cleric. But let's get one thing clear: Four Lions is not an indictment of Islam, and it most certainly hasn't been made out of hatred or fear or racism. Morris draws a strong distinction between the peaceful majority of Muslims and the small faction of idiots who delude themselves - or are deluded - into thinking that killing scores of innocents is somehow an acceptable way to praise and obey Allah. The film's comedy would work just as well for kamikaze pilots, abortion clinic bombers, eco-terrorists, or far-rightwing, weapons-stockpiling American militiamen. An extremist is an extremist is an extremist.

×

Four Lions / Fur Four Lions (2010)

Close

But perhaps some are dumber than others. In Four Lions, the four extremists are extraordinarily obtuse. When we open, the dullest dullard of the group, Waj (Kayvan Novak), is filming one of those threatening anonymous videos that masked terrorists are always posting online. Only, he's holding a comically undersized toy AK-47 and, with no clue what to say, he bumbles on and on about the halal meals at Chicken Cottage. Fessel (Adeel Akhtar), who's been stockpiling bleach for three years and who has an idiotic idea to strap explosives to trained crows, isn't much brighter. And then we have Barry (Nigel Lindsay) - yes, Barry - a working-class white convert to radicalism who buys ingredients for bomb-making on Amazon.com and who once made the local news by baking a Twin Towers cake and leaving it in a synagogue on 9/11. ("That is part of the plan!" he says in defense. "Hide in plain site!") These al-Qaeda wannabes are led by the slightly smarter Omar (Riz Ahmed), a family man and mall security guard who serves as the Moe to this group of stooges, keeping them in line and chewing them out with explicit Urdu tirades. Did I mention the fifth lion to join the tribe - a college prankster (Arsher Ali) who composes jihadist rap anthems? Here's his masterpiece: "I'm the Mujahideen and I'm making a scene, now you's gonna feel what the boom-boom means! It's like Tupac said, "When I die, I'm not dead." We are the martyrs, you're just smashed tomatoes. Allahu Akbar!"

×

Four Lions / Fur Four Lions (2010)

Close

The plot is less tightly wound than In the Loop, but Four Lions wanders from scene to scene in a series of sardonic - and mostly hilarious - shaggy dog incidents. When Omar and Waj fail miserably at a mujahideen training camp in Pakistan, they return to the U.K. determined to blow up…well, something. They can't decide. Fessel suggests the pharmacy Boots, because "they sell condoms that make you wanna bang white girls," while the ever-aggressive Barry is dead set on bombing a mosque to "radicalize the moderates." Omar shoots down both plans. After much half-assed scheming - and the deaths of a crow and a sheep - the inept terrorists end up in a "charity fun run" marathon, their ready-to-blow bomb belts hidden under outlandishly puffy costumes. I won't explain exactly how it all goes down, but I will say this: Morris doesn't go for the cop-out Hollywood happy ending. He follows his suicide bombers to their logically explosive conclusion, making a lucid point about the absurdity of pointless martyrdom. And what's truly scary is that as moronic as Omar's flunkies sound, Morris based their actions on years of research about real-life amateur-hour terrorist cells operating in England and abroad.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, blu-ray.com

×

Four Lions / Fur Four Lions (2010)

Close