I went to see Four Lions in the Odeon on Holloway Road a few days ago. There were a total of four of us in the cinema, which seemed a little ominous. Was the film that bad, we wondered? Or was it some kind of boycott, led by the Daily Mail and the 7/7 relatives?
Answers: no (it's terrifically good), and probably not. At least, I can't imagine why anyone would be offended by this film, which is moving, unbearably sad and bitterly intelligent. It's also terrifically funny, but I don't think anyone who's seen the film would believe that we were laughing at the victims of terrorism.
Four Lions is about a group of angry but incompetent militant Islamists planning a bombing, although until the latter end of the film they're not sure what they want to bomb. One of the group, the blusteringly venomous white convert Barry, thinks they should trigger an uprising by blowing up a mosque. Others suggest the chemist Boots, or "the internet". They finally settle on the London marathon.
This is a very, very funny film; perhaps it was the disinhibiting effect of an almost empty cinema, but the four of us were giggling like children most of the way through. Most of it's down to the contrast between the bombers' grim, grand aims - explained eloquently by sympathetic family man Omar, their articulate and conflicted leader - and the pathetically parochial reality, the way the message is filtered to and by the rest of the group.
Martyrdom saves up points for Heaven "like a Nectar card". Killing non-believers will be like playing on an Xbox. Life is the queues at Alton Towers; the afterlife is the rides themselves. "Rubber dinghy rapids bro!" says Waj, the dimmest and most easily manipulated of the bunch, as he resolves to kill himself and a kebab shop full of bystanders.
But, for all the jokes, this film is never flippant. And I don't agree that it simply sets out to ridicule suicide bombers. Chris Morris famously said he wanted to show the "Dad's Army side" of terrorism, and he depicts the bombers as misguided bumblers - but they're also human, likeable, often well-meaning and occasionally terrified.
Omar, seemingly the only member of the group to fully grasp the consequences of what they're doing, discusses the plan with his wife and child, visibly struggling to persuade himself as well as his son that what he's doing is right. Later he is consumed with guilt for convincing Waj to take part. And there's a brutally poignant scene where a hurrying Omar is forced to say a restrained, cryptic goodbye to his wife in front of two policemen: "I'm taking my team up to the top floor now. I'll see you up there."
I'm a bit of a latecomer to this one, so you might struggle to find Four Lions still playing in cinemas. But if you can, or if you can wait to see it on DVD or television, it's well worth a look. Just don't expect two hours of deliberate controversy baiting, or jokes about the 7th July, or whatever else the Daily Mail has told its readers to expect.
This is Patron! He can be found in the quiet backstreets of St James...
