On the Terrorist Comedy in Four Lions

This story of five enthusiastic, but unskilled suicide bombers merges an unusual dichotomy between comedy and terrorism. The reason for this abnormal mixing arises from the terror aspect arriving in the form of British Islamist suicide bombers trying to decide on where in the UK to blow up. That they come from the North draws immediate comparisons with the terrorist attacks of July 2007, which adds the film a further layer of realism.

The most potent example of this dichotomy comes in the scenes with the main protagonist Omar, and his wife and son. The question of Omar’s planned suicide mission is such an accepted fact in the household and discussed with such nonchalance that it goes away towards negating the labels we place on suicide bombers. This was also successfully achieved in Syriana (2005).

The combination is almost always successful and the comedy and the gravity of the issue are fused fantastically. What Four Lions offers is a opportunity for great humour, but placed alongside the jarring reality of terrorism in its most naive and dangerous fashion.