Review of Four Lions (2010) by Ramón M — 28 Dec 2011

It's murder being a martyr.

I would never have seen this coming, not in a million years, I don't think anyone ever expected a comedy about Muslim terrorists, but the real question is, will this have me reaching for my lighter fluid or will it be Ram a dam great?

Now, before I really get into the core points of this review, I would like to state that much like the film anything I say in this review is NOT against Muslims in general or against anything they believe in. Even though I am a Christian I am not so narrow minded as to condemn another religion for what they believe (and truly it upsets me far more when anyone attacks any faith in a cinema than the inclusion of any number of religious characters). That all clear? Good!

Four Lions is a challenging film to watch, to review and I can't imagine how Christopher Morris.

Actually pitched the film to anyone, at all, ever. So firstly it's an achievement that anything like this could even be made in the current world we live in, for that Christopher Morris I applaud you.

I also applaud you for taking something that is still very much an open wound with people and making light of it, but not in the way you would expect, there is no back handed sly insults towards anyone's beliefs, or basement American pie like jokes that would be insulting towards a certain section of the audience, and while I'm sure Muslims aren't tripping over themselves to see this film, I can't personally see it as truly offensive. That being said, there is always something to offend everyone if people want to look hard enough, and if you are a Muslim and know the inner workings of your belief system you will be offended.

I've realized that so far I've not actually stated if the film is funny or not, so let me state here and now. It is. And it's all down to it's script. The razor sharp script is perfect. In honesty, Four Lions has so many great moments and quotes hidden inside it, I can't even think of a singular superior scene to highlight. This is without doubt down to the level of brilliance that the cast have, we are given 5 main characters and all are perfect for their given roles.

It's a shame that Four Lions will always be caught in controversy because of it's subject matter, however the message here isn't "Muslims are terrorists" or anything on par with that, the message is, "no matter who you are or from what walk of life, some people will always be idiots", see! It's a user friendly message! And it fully embraces how ridicules and stupid a film it is, immediately from the opening the film firmly has it's tongue in it's cheek.

And then the ending starts to take shape and you begin to see that deep down Four Lions has a very dark heart indeed. Because it has an unavoidable and powerful ending, it made me question if it was ok to laugh at all at what had preceded it, but in truth Four Lions ending might be the most controversial part of all. I truly believe that in his closing moments Christopher Morris knew that he would have the audience on it's knees and so he brings out the "big" guns over the closing credits, the really powerful stuff. In his final minutes Morris brings to the centre stage that which has only been implied or hinted at throughout the film.

Four Lions is a success for more than one reason, it has a bold director, good cast and is genuinely funny without ever making light or praise of it's subject matter.