One of the most common beliefs about comedy is that a comedian should be allowed to make fun of anything and everything. Comedy acts as a mirror, showing the truth of society and the more foolish attributes and quirks of a people. But there’s also the idea that some ideas and problems are, well, not funny by their very nature. They’re too dark or serious. Or they reflect more tragic, real life problems. There’s also the idea that comedians should not punch down on the people who are not at the top of the social ladder. Basically, we can say there are two competing ideas: either everything is up for grabs for comedy, or some topics and people should be treated as off-limits because they can’t be funny.
What about terrorism? The British comedy Four Lions attempted to figure that part out.
Four British Muslim man have become radicalized and want to commit an act of terrorism in the form of a suicide bombing. Leader Omar (Riz Ahmed) works as s security guard and seems to have a comfortable life with his supportive wife and young son, as in yes, they support his desire to blow himself up in a strike against Western decadence. Omar’s cousin Waj (Kayvan Novak) is loyal to Omar but not terribly bright. Barry (Nigel Lyndsay) is a convert and perhaps the most radical and hardcore in his beliefs. And Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) just hangs off Barry’s every word. Omar and Waj even take a trip to Pakistan to train with al Qaeda.
However, none of these four guys are really all that good at this sort of thing. Omar and Waj prove too incompetent for al Qaeda and are sent home after making things worse for the terrorist organization. Barry, meanwhile, recruits a fifth member in the form of rapper Hassan (Arsher Ali), but once Omar and Waj get back, the group can’t agree right away on what to bomb to make the best sort of statement. It doesn’t help that Barry’s best idea is to bomb the local mosque in order to radicalize other Muslims. Can these guys get their act together long enough to get anything right?
So, is this funny? I would say it most certainly is, even when the actor’s thick British accents and my tinnitus made it a bit difficult for me to understand what many of the characters were saying. This is a dark comedy, so it’s not as if these guys won’t blow themselves up. It’s more like where and how they blow themselves up. Plus, for all that Omar and the others are idiots, it’s not like law enforcement is any better. This is a world of fools. It just so happens that some of them want to make a political statement while blowing themselves to bits.
It may help a bit that the cast here weren’t exactly huge names. Sure, Ahmed is doing very well now, and Novak has done some great work on the TV version of What We Do in the Shadows, but the biggest name present is probably Benedict Cumberbatch in a small role as a police negotiator, but this movie came out the same year Sherlock started. That gives the movie a more “realistic” look since these guys do look rather ordinary in many ways. But the bottom line is the movie is funny, and while I wasn’t sure if any movie could make this topic funny, this one sure did.
Grade: A-
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