Four Lions: Ten Years later (Could it be made today?)

When I read the synopsis for Four Lions which described a comedy that follows the story of a group of extremists on a mission to become suicide bombers, I assumed that it would be an edgy comedy that relies on for shock value for most of its jokes, but that Isn’t the case. Director Chris Morris says that he was inspired to make this film when he found comedy in real life scenarios surrounding terrorists despite the fact it's a very scary and serious subject; one real life example he came across was a story of a group of terrorists who planned to blow up a US warship by ramming it with a boat filled with explosives, however these explosives were so heavy it caused the boat to sink.  

 

The film has many laugh out loud moments throughout with a sense of humor that reminded me of other comedies such as the inbetweeners, but there are other moments in the film that are surprisingly sad as the main characters have been misguided and manipulated into thinking they are doing the right thing. There are scenes that show how ideologies are twisted to try and justify these acts of terrorism and make these individuals believe that what they are doing is good; because of this the I did feel sympathy for some of the characters despite the fact they were planning to carry out devastating attacks. Riz Ahmed is a perfect choice for the leading role as he is a great comedic actor but is also diverse enough to play the more serious scenes.  

Four Lions was released a decade ago and despite the fact I believe there isn’t really anything offensive about the film, I did wonder if the film would be received differently if it was released today as many people talk about “PC culture” and how people are more easily offended now than they used to be; James Buckley, star of the Inbetweeners said in an interview that there’s no way the show could be made today because too many people would be offended. I think a film like Four Lions could still be made today and it would still have a massive audience, it just seems like more people get offended now because social media is far more prominent than it was ten years ago so people have a platform to voice their opinions. Four lions holds up ten years later because it's a unique comedy that took risks and perfectly balanced hilarious moments with a dark subject matter. 

 

Four Lions is currently available to stream on Amazon prime for free

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