Fave Films of the Century So Far - 2010 - Four Lions

Only Chris Morris would make a comedy about suicide bombers. Yup. A comedy about suicide bombers. A comedy about four British muslims make a pact to detonate themselves at the London City Marathon.

Only Chris Morris could make this hilarious and then ultimately tragic.

Omar (Riz Ahmed), Waj (Kayvan Novak), Faisal (Adeel Akhtar)  and Barry (Nigel Lindsay) are 4 radicalised British men who decide to make a stand against British imperialism. Omar and Waj travel to an Al-Qaeda affiliated training camp in Pakistan to find out what they are made of. This happens.

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Coming home with their heads between their legs they decide to strike fear in the heart of the nation. Things don't go to plan.

It sounds like it's in awfully bad taste doesn't it. But it's not. By humanising these wannabe terrorists, depicting them as complex individuals with rich inner lives and loves Chris Morris turns it into a tragic and in places genuinely upsetting watch. At the same time he doesn't let them away with anything. They are willing participants while not being fully aware of the effects of their actions and here he uses his platform to take pot shots at the evil, hypocrisy and idiocy of religious fundamentalism, how it prays on the weak willed by promising them everything and giving them nothing. But it's never anti Islamic at all as it takes a warm, empathic look at a complex way of life. 

Then Chris Morris makes it funny. Somehow, some way he does it. The juxtaposition of stupidity and danger. Suicide bombers in cartoon costumes. There's so much humour in here, pitch black comedy and full on belly laughs. It shouldn't work at all but it does, brilliantly. Without a doubt my favourite film of 2010.

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