Four Lions (2010) is one of the best comedies I have ever seen and not enough people have talked about it. After watching it, I decided I wanted to analyze it and find: What makes this movie such a subversive classic, even a decade later?

THIS POST INCLUDES SPOILERS

Four Lions, for those who do not know, is a comedy drama, dramedy if you will, about a group of British Jihadists, named Omar, Waj, and Barry. This bumbling group of idiots decides to do something drastic in the name of Religion: Commit a suicide bombing.

But the question stands – Where to do it?

After a disastrous stint in Pakistan troop training for Al Quida, where Omar and Waj accidentally kill Osama Bin Laden while trying to shoot down a drone, two new members join the ill-fated jihad: Faisal, who wants to strap bombs to ravens, and Hassan, a wannabe rapper. Three becomes Five, and bonds are formed between the group while their plan slowly forms. Barry, the sole white guy of the group, has a rather outlandish idea. He wants to bomb a Mosque and blame it on their enemies. Omar disagrees, brining conflict to the groups. The bond between the members of the jihad and their idiocy brings loads of comedy and hijinks, from karaoke with the odd neighbor next door and a close encounter with Omar’s day job’s boss that ends with an unfortunate end to both a sheep and Faisal himself. But at last, the group decides on what to do.

They want to bomb the London Marathon.

Up to his point Four Lions has been an albeit strange but mostly straight forward comedy that balanced the more regular, dull parts of Omar’s life as well as the insanity his friends in the jihad bring. But the decision to bomb the marathon changes the tone of the movie from relatively low stakes, offensive fun to a gut punch of a twist.

Hassan rejects the plan to bomb the marathon and turns himself in-or tries to at least. While speaking to a police officer only minutes before their attack, Barry triggers Hassan’s bomb, killing him and raising the alarm that there are bombers in London. Hassan’s death causes a chase where the three remaining jihadists make a dash to the crowds in the hopes of ending some other peoples’ lives as well as their own. Waj, dressed as an ostrich, makes a dash to a café where he holds the diners hostage. Omar rushes to find Waj and help him and Barry runs away, only to be killed after eating Omar’s phone’s SIM card in an attempt to leave Waj for dead. After Barry’s death, Omar tries to prevent Waj from having the same fate. He runs into his boss again and calls Waj, whom at this point had spoken with and hung up on a negotiator and released all but one of the hostages. The final hostage was a fellow Muslim, and in a moment of stupidity is given the suicide bomb by Waj as well as the detonator.

A squad of police break in and shoot the hostage because he was Muslim as well as Waj. Scared, confused, and ignoring Omar’s attempts to save him, Waj detonates his bomb. Omar is left in shock, standing next to his only surviving friend, someone who had no part in the bombing. The last thing he says to his boss is, “Tell them I was smiling.” Alone, defeated, and hopeless, Omar walks into a nearby drug store and blows up himself and everybody inside in a final act of independence.

Roll Credits. Cue the Music. The End.

The ending of Four Lions hit me more than most. For the entire movie, through all conflict and strife, the friendship of Waj and Omar survived. After everything they had been through, the two had always had each other’s backs. In the very end Omar fails to help his friend when it mattered the most, leaving him to his sad end. While what I consider to be the funniest scene of the movie may be Faisal’s death, all of the fatalities shown in the movie have emotional weight behind them due to the excellent acting and writing of each character. The way they all interact with each other feels real, and the way the movie is filmed makes it almost feel like these events could have actually happened. Four Lions is a comedy, but also both a heartwarming reflection of a strained brotherhood and a doomed partnership. This is why I find this film to be one of the best comedies of all time, and a must see for fans of dark humor and unflinching satire.

Submitted March 20, 2020 at 01:02PM by one_stupid_boi https://ift.tt/2UA7Lzd