A jihadi comedy. Not exactly the most orthodox of film genres I must say, but this comedy about four would-be suicide bombers from Sheffield is probably one of the funniest yet starkly profound films that I've watched for a long, long time.
The makers were walking a theological tightrope whilst writing this. It would have been so easy to turn this into an hour and a half free for all of sterile gags, poorly thought out caricatures and offensive stereotyping (see Sex in the City 2, not that I've seen such a film. Only birds and full-on whammers would even contemplate watching such benign and loathsome film). When I was first told about this I was expecting to see an Iraqi version of The Three Stooges. Instead, I was treated to a sharp comedy that raises some poignant questions about the nature of terrorism, and the way that we, the collective west, perceives it.
The main bulk of the comedy lies in the film's ability to document the relationship and personalities of the kind of people that would take up such a diabolical task in the first place. The profile of your average DIY terrorist isn't as obvious as you might think. I mean, when you think of a terrorist, you (naturally) think of dirty robes, ak47's and long beards set upon a backdrop of sandy deserts, centuries of dogmatic hatred and poverty. In reality though, the call to jihad attracts every kind of profile that you can imagine. Young or old, white or brown, rich or poor, articulate or stupid. This film constantly puts into doubt any preconceived or objective notion that you've ever had, and it's this that makes this comedy stand out above anything even remotely similar in context.
Check this out though, if you want a film that makes you laugh as well as think, I can't see where you could possibly go wrong with Four Lions. It's a modern day Life of Brian as far as I'm concerned.
