By now, much ink has been spilled on the “controversial” nature of Chris Morris’ Four Lions, which is a slapstick comedy about five Muslim suicide bombers in Britain. That much is true. The suicide bombers are humanized — this is true also. But why shouldn’t suicide bombers be humanized? They are, after all, human. They have families, friends, and menial jobs, and while much of the humour in Four Lions is derived from every manner in which these idiots arouse suspicion (primarily by trying to avoid doing so), the parts I found most interesting had to do with their daily lives.
The de facto leader of the group, Omar (Riz Ahmed), is a security guard. He’s friendly with his clueless non-Muslim boss, he has a supportive wife who has a stable job as a nurse, and he lets his son play with water pistols and watch Disney films. In fact, his life seems far more functional than that of his brother, who refuses to be in the same room as another woman, and keeps his wife in a closet when company is over. One gets the feeling that Omar has to lead the group not so much because he believes in the cause, but because if he doesn’t, the plan will be hijacked by Barry — a native British convert whose views are so radical he thinks it would be a good idea to blow up a Mosque to “radicalize the moderates.” Omar tells him that this would be like punching himself in the face to win a fight.
Some might feel uncomfortable with being asked to empathize with people whose intention is to kill the innocent, but despite the fact that I never felt like I supported their cause, I definitely did feel for their friendship, which is always on the brink of being torn apart by opposing ideologies. Sadly, it’s the pragmatic intelligent ideology that seems most efficient in bringing about harm, not of its own will, but by trying to appease that of the irrational radical in the group. This group doesn’t seem malicious, but confused and aimless. The film doesn’t pull any punches and it doesn’t moralize, but to me, that makes it less offensive. What it does is launch a vicious satirical attack on a media that emphasizes the differences between cultures and fails to address the similarities. While this is a film that deals with “very serious issues,” it’s also a very funny — and very British – film about idiots. And as we all know, no one makes films about idiots better than the British.
