Another massive gap in my cinema attendance was recently broken by 'Four Lions'. I first saw a teaser trailer for this on the Internet ages ago and have been well-excited about Chris Morris' latest dagger into the hearts of traditional media narratives. This time he's chosen the War on Terror. Where the mainstream media portray Islamic Jihadists as superhuman warriors who are so dangerous that anyone slightly resembling one needs to be arrested / shot on sight, Morris has chosen to paint them as a bunch of bumbling morons who have brainwashed themselves into believing that blowing up sheep is 'an attack on the infrastructure'.
Morris is doing nothing new here, it has been a long comic tradition to lampoon your enemies to demonstrate how ridiculous they are. Morris' band of muppets is nominally lead by a white guy who has converted to Islam ("I'm the most Al Queda one here!" - he exclaims at one point), a family man whose wife and son urge him to "... blow up the Kaffurs", a rapping jihadist and two other complete numpties who provide a wealth of slapstick humour. Why should anyone be worried about this lot?
The question is answered towards the end of the film as Morris allows his Jihadists to go on their suicide mission; as moronic as they are, you only need a moron to walk into a shop and detonate a bomb strapped to his chest. More than just lampooning the stupidity of the bombers, Morris goes further and applies the same logic to the security services, he fills their ranks with bumbling jobsworths who concern themselves more with covering their own backs than protecting anyone from harm. With this Morris has made the Jihadists seem more terrifying - and funnier - than ever.
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