MOVIE: FOUR LIONS

MOVIE: FOUR LIONS

This could easily end up being the subject of the feature story on A Current Affair: “Terrorists in your neighbourhood! Suicide bombing, not a joke.” Or can it be? The plot in a line: four Muslim men in Britain plotting a terrorist mission. Not that simple is the genre this film falls under: comedy. A satire to be more precise. Director Chris Morris was inspired by the sheer stupidity behind the mundane details that occur at jihadis training camps like shooting each other’s feet off and martyrdom video bloopers. Although it wasn’t spelled out, there were parallels drawn between jihadis and the American military culture. Put a group of young, testosterone fuelled blokes together, feed them ideas and watch them take off. Imagine watching a reverse Fox News and you get Four Lions. The eventual weapon of choice here is not a bomb, it’s blatant ignorance. And the victims are always innocent and one too many. I want to take this film apart and write a three-page review on it but due to space restrictions I will say that I laughed, squirmed in my seat, covered my mouth in disbelief and came out of the cinema incredibly excited, that in the heap of trash that is masquerading as entertainment today, I was a part of something that made me question my instinct to laugh – in that it achieved what the best of parodies do – break down boundaries and pioneer a new discussion about an old topic through humour. (KS)

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.