Brit Omar (Riz Ahmed) is unhappy with the way fellow Muslims are being treated around the world and he makes the decision to become a Jihadist soldier in order to do something about it. His best friend Waj (Kayvan Novak) is perfectly fine with this because Omar does all his thinking for him, choosing to go alone because it is what he has been told to do.

Riz Ahmed (center, in orange) and his crew in Four Lions © Drafthouse Films

The pair join up with nihilist Islamic convert Barry (Nigel Lindsay), who apparently hates everyone and whose most cherished idea is to bomb a mosque because it will somehow help spark a world-wide revolution, and bomb maker Faisal (Adeel Akhtar) who has been training crows to carry his devices because he can’t do the same himself right now because of a sick father who has started eating newspaper. They make an unlikely foursome, Omar quickly realizing that if they’ve got any chance of making a proper statement they’ll have to do so without him strangling any of his compatriots for their lunacy.

Making his feature film debut, famed British comedian Chris Morris’ audacious Four Lines certainly pushes the boundaries of political correctness. An In the Loop or “The Office” style satire about terrorist cells and suicide bombers, the movie is a farcical kick in the pants that is as smart as it is uproarious. While it isn’t entirely successful beginning to end, the film has just enough on its mind and offers up more than enough laughs to make up for its shortcomings. Put simply I really liked it, the movie making me think and tickling my funny bone in almost equal measure.

There will be the occasional naysayer out there who will rip the film for crafting a narrative around terrorists. They will say that Morris is glorifying them and giving them a voice they otherwise wouldn’t have. They would be wrong on all counts. The movie doesn’t glorify or celebrate anything. What it does do is show the universal lunacy of what drives people to these sorts of extremes. More than that, it gleefully shows these absurdities from all sides, and as inane or as dopey as the central characters can be it’s not like those they clandestinely claim to be in opposition to are acting all that differently.

I was also quite struck by how shockingly touching some of this is. One of Morris’ most delectably insidious tricks is to make viewers understand that these wannabe bombers, these erstwhile terrorists, are nothing more than flawed, more than a tiny bit scared and at times unquestionably loving human beings. What they want to do is monstrous and inhuman yet that doesn’t stop Omar from loving his wife, of telling his son bedtime stories, of wishing he got alone better than he does with his far more devout (and thus far more peaceful) brother. He has a good life, some would even say a great one, making what he has convinced himself to do all the more tragic and sad.

You get the feeling watching Four Lions that people could learn one heck of a lot about themselves if they were to take the time to view it for themselves. The movie speaks on multiple levels, more than just a series of random gags, exploding crows or bumbling bombers running around in gigantic animal costumes. Through its use of humor, by taking things to such an absurd level, the filmmakers achieve a level of insight that is both timely and piercing. While the finished film doesn’t always connect it always resonates, Morris crafting a comedic time bomb where the laughs and the insights pretty much go hand in hand. 

Film Rating: êêê (out of 4) 

Additional Links