Review of Four Lions (2010) by Edith N — 09 Jan 2012

Sometimes, Your Roots Aren't Where You Left Them.

I suppose in many ways, several of the characters in this film are like those people who watch [i]Roots[/i] and get insanely interested in their African heritage or watch [i]Braveheart[/i] and get insanely interested in their Scottish heritage. Not, it should be noted, that I think all Muslims are terrorists. Quite the opposite. My thinking is much more along the lines of, "Man, people get things wrong sometimes." After all, it's not as though [i]Braveheart[/i] will give you an accurate picture of the real history of Scotland. However, I've known people you couldn't tell that to. You couldn't tell them anything, because they had Found Their Heritage, and what did you, a mere amateur historian, know? It is often said that converts make the most devoted followers, and while I don't think that's universally true, I do think there can be a sense of devotion once you've decided to follow a certain worldview, and I think that's what's happening here.

Omar (Riz Ahmed) is a Muslim man living in Sheffield. I'm not sure it's ever said what ethnicity he is, though it's probably Pakistani (the actor's ethnicity). He and three friends are radicalized. Indeed, Omar, Waj (Kayvan Novak), and Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) go to a training camp in Pakistan. Their friend Barry (Nigel Lindsay) cannot go, because he is a white guy who doesn't speak Urdu. Though he does recruit Hassan (Arsher Ali) while they're there. Anyway, they get kicked out, because they're terrible, and Omar can't face it. He tells the others that he has found them an imam who is giving them instructions, and they will go and blow . . . something . . . up. They aren't much settled on what. In fact, Barry wants to blow up a mosque, because he believes it will radicalize the entire Muslim population of the UK and make them all rise up and take over the country. Omar thinks, rightly, that this is a terrible idea, and there is much conflict and it doesn't end well at all.

Really, these are four guys who want to be somebody special. Oh, Waj is just kind of dumb and willing to go along with the others, but that's almost the worst kind. He knows this is a bad idea, and he's actually talked out of it by the others. And he lets them, because he knows he's an idiot. Faisal? Faisal wants to train crows to deliver bombs. Along the lines of carrier pigeons. But I mean, how does that work? Does he issue the crows maps and little compasses? Barry is based on someone who learned a ton about the Koran and so forth so he could argue with people and ended up converting himself. Omar isn't a stupid man. Indeed, he's probably the brightest of the four. But he isn't anyone special, and it drives him crazy to know that. He's not good enough for the terrorists. He has a bit of a dead-end job working mall security. He has a lovely wife (Preeya Kalidas) and a decent life, but it isn't enough. So there's this.

For contrast, there is also (I believe) Mahmood (Mohammed Aqil), who believes that there is no place for violence in Islam, even in self-defense. On the other hand, he believes all the stuff which requires Sofia, Omar's wife, to be silent and subservient. Omar doesn't like him because he's always quoting the Koran, and it makes him feel stupid. If we look at this as a shaggy dog story, which we well might, it's worth noting that the punchline is that British authorities can't tell the difference between Mahmood's brand of Islam and Omar's or Barry's. He's a quiet sort. I find his version of Islam offensive, too, and I think there's a place for a nonviolent Islam which treats women as people and not property, but Mahmood is not a threat to British society. He isn't planning to get his views forced on everyone else. He wants Omar and the others to follow them--though I don't think he cares about Barry--but that's because they're actually Muslims.

This movie stops being entirely funny near the end in the same way that [i]Dr. Strangelove[/i] does, but if you can't laugh, what are you going to do? My personal belief is that you can't afford to take anything too seriously, and satire has been a tool of political statement for a very long time indeed. If nothing else, it's hard to be scared of radical Islamic fundamentalists if you think they're all like these guys. But the ludicrous series of mistakes these guys make are all too believable. It's easy to believe that every movement acquires essentially these guys, and it's not all that difficult to believe that they're the ones who make all the trouble in the world. I mean, let's face it. Someone has had to explain the concepts to Waj in a way that he understands. And Barry is just trying too hard to be cool. It isn't just teenagers; there are all kinds of people who will do wildly stupid things in order to blend in. Unfortunately for us all, some of them also end up with access to explosives.