Turin’s Four Lions make up a demented Jihadist terrorist cell
The Jihadist cell in Chris Morris’ Four Lions [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is more demented than sleeper, a band of unhinged members who oscillate between disarming clumsiness and pure idiocy. The brains of the operation is Omar (Riz Ahmed), which isn’t saying much. While in the Pakistani desert for an advanced course on terrorism, he fires a bazooka from the wrong end and wipes out an entire platoon of Mujahideen.
Then there’s Waj (Kayvan Novak), who thinks chickens are genetically modified rabbits, the iconoclastic Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) who will only have his picture taken with a box on his head, the nihilistic and litigioso Al-Britanni (Nigel Lindsay) and his new rapper follower (Arsher Ali).
Though the team is scombinato, their objective is dramatic: to strike in the heart of London. “Terrorist cells follow the same group dynamics as bachelor and football parties: there’s friendship, conflict, incomprehension, rivalry. Terrorism is ideology, as well as idiocy,” says Morris, who makes his feature debut after much television satire, and who in his research spoke with “experts, the police, the secret service and hundreds of Muslims. Everyone agreed with my bringing to light the tragically farcical aspect of the Jihad”.
The oxymoron doesn’t leave viewers indifferent. Like a modern Dr. Strangelove, about Islamic terrorism rather than atomic threat, the laughter goes down hard (especially in the end). But is it legitimate to laugh about kamikazes at work?
In the UK, where the horror of that terrorism hit even recently, yes. Further proof is a second film in competition at the Turin Film Festival, The Infidel [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a more over-the-top but much less scathing satire on fundamentalism.
Finding funds for the film, was not easy, however. “Many people weren’t able to their simple instinctive reactions,” says Morris (who wrote the film with Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain). “The producers who decided to support the film understood that we didn’t want to attack a culture, but to suggest that killing isn’t such a good idea.”
Produced by Warp Films with backing from Film4, Four Lions will be distributed in Italy by Videa CDE.
(Translated from Italian)
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