Four Lions

Originally posted on Taco Cart Productions site.

Posted by Small Paul

Chris Morris has to be one of the most cutting edge British satirists of the last two decades, being responsible for classic media send-ups, The Day Today and Brass Eye, both of which were no strangers to controversy. If you haven’t seen them I urge you to seek them out, be it on DVD or online because I simply don’t have space here to go into how razor sharp and dangerous Morris’s satire is.

After extensive work on TV, Morris then turned his talents to film, culminating in his 2010 offering, Four Lions. If Morris’s previous outings into dark humour were contentious, this movie has a theme no one has dared touch with a ten foot pole before. Four Lions follows the fate of a group of radicalised British Muslims intent on turning themselves into suicide bombers and thus martyrs to their cause. Hardly pure popcorn stuff huh?

Referred to as a ‘jihadist comedy’, this movie has got to be one of the funniest and yet poignant and relevant things I’ve seen in recent years. The central performances of the potential bombers are essential to this film working and the actors don’t fail to deliver. The script and story are pant wettingly hilarious even if I did spend a large part of the time wondering whether I should be laughing at all and watching it through my fingers. Readers Stateside may have heard of the film as it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back at the start of 2010 and while unfortunately it only had a limited theatrical release in the US, it was released over there this month on DVD.

Highly intelligent, extremely well researched and played to perfection, Four Lions has got to be one of my favourite films of recent years and I recommend you grab a copy as soon as you can. But be warned, this isn’t for the faint hearted.