Religion and Terrorism in British Comedy film

Over the years, British comedy has managed to explore the controversial issue of religion. Though, the trouble has generally been with the audience reception, with Monty Python and the Life of Brian(1979) being highly blasphemic and offensive to the Christian faith, due to the references to Christ and biblical references.

Though, the role of religion in British comedy film has also been the subject of much criticism, as the terrorist attacks on September 11th and July 7/7 bombings in London sparked a wave of comedy films which mock and respond in fear to terrorism and Islam, with Four Lions (2010) being more controversial. In many ways, the film responds to social concerns, as terrorism has been more recurrent in the news, as the wave of terrorist attacks have resulted in moral panic amongst civilians, as they don't know where the next terrorist attack is going to happen.

In accordance to this, Four Lions gives an alternative representation of suicide bombers, as they are represented as being quite brave, but stupid, as they have not motive, apart from sheer excitement at destruction and killing.

Scene from Four Lions



Initially, Chris Morris ( known for his controversial report on paedophilia on Brass Eye) spent 3 years researching around terrorism and Islam, for the film. Morris recieved advice from terrorism experts, imams, the police , secret service, as well as opinions from ordinary muslims. Morris' intial research was carried out before the July 7/7 bombings, of which sparked enthusiasm from Morris to create a film about terrorism. Though, the film was rejected by Channel 4 and BBC, as it was too controversial and would effect the muslim public.

Four Lions is a low budget British comedy film which revolves around a group of four jihadists, Waj (Kayvan Novak), Omar (Riz Ahmed), Adeel Akhtar (Fassel) and Baryy (Nigel Lindsay), who is a Islamic convert. These men try to push their suicidal dreams of glory to the breaking point, with their motives and dreams clashing, resulting in many awkward situations.

Within this scene, the issue of Islam is raised as being a more controversial issue. In many ways, the director Chris Morris gives a fair representation of the public, as he intends to show moral panic and how people react towards muslims in society . As this scene is shot in a conference hall, the use of medium close up shots of the panel, signify anxiety and shock, as they are subjected to hostile reception by a member of the audience. In effect, the audience member is giving his own opinion on muslims, as they are given negative stereotypes, as being bombers or radical extremists. These negative stereotypes seem to leave an impression of young muslims who revert to terrorism as a means of escape and hatred.

Though, the comical aspect of this scene is when the audience member reveals in a medium shot , that he is carrying armed explosives. The camera quickly zooms out in order to catch the audience's shocked reaction. Whats more, the deranged audience member begins to rap, which comes as a shock, as this shows how young muslims seem to interpret terrorism as a social organisation and seem to think radical terrorism is 'cool'. The scene actually ridicules terrorism, as it shows failed attempts of suicide bombers, as the man's bombs fail to explode, revealing party popper confetti, which seemingly calms audience expectations of the scene.


Critical Reception

Surprisingly, Four Lions received positive reviews in the media and approval from the muslim community. Whats more, the film managed to impress at the Box Office on its opening weekend, generating the highest site average of all the new releases (£5,292) and making a total of £609,000.

In the media, the reviews were generally positive, showing how the film conveyed reality and reaction to moral panic around terrorism. Here are a few critical responses from newspapers

[Chris Morris'] seemed to evoke the claustrophobic mundanity of the Muslims’ lives, and showed their quarrelous banter, their flimsily pick 'n’ mix approach to the Koran all feel painfully, brilliantly real." Daily Mail

Critic Kaleem Aftab responds by saying how Morris ' exposes a myth of terrorist bombers being trained assassins but instead exposes them as being confused young men.' The Independent

However, Nick Fraser believed that the film endorsed homegrown terrorism.

'I wasn't sure how to handle a jihadi who discusses going to heaven with his nine-year-old son,' he wrote. The Observer

'Chris Morris depicts a movement of violent berks and prats. In this film, everyone is stupid. The suicide bombers are stupid; the coppers are stupid; even the clever suicide bomber with the gentle, loving marriage and adoring son is stupid' The Guardian

'The most uncomfortable aspect of Four Lions is the excruciatingly happy, healthy, fulfilled home life of Omar. Just as we have become accustomed to the idea that only idiots or creeps want to kill people by blowing themselves up, Morris coolly presents us with a self-evidently nice, commonsensical guy who loves his family'. The Guardian

'Despite what is happening in the news every day, there is something daring and refreshing about a film that tickles the jihadists in the ribs until fundamentalism becomes farce.' The Times

On the whole, the critics from the UK newspapers cite how the film satirises Islam and shows the normality of the terrorists. Though, the film also shows public paranoia and fear, as the characters are different in their personalities and dreams, with Barry being the egomaniac and Omar being the more sensible yet stupid leader of the bunch.