Satire at its best goes after the most sacred of cows -- religion, politics, the rich and powerful. When it's done bravely, satire brazenly stands up and stares down the thing that dominates or terrifies the most. And given that terrorism and the threat of same has been the leading tightener of sphincters worldwide, Four Lions (out this week from Magnolia Home Entertainment and Drafthouse Films) has to rank among the timeliest and most courageous films in recent memory. It's also side-splittingly hilarious.
Audiences were probably put off at the notion of a slapstick lampoon of Jihadi suicide bombers, but it's director Chris Morris' audacity at tackling such a taboo topic -- let alone making it funny -- that makes Four Lions such an envelope-pushing movie.
The film never makes light of the death or tragedy that is the inevitable collateral damage from these attacks, but the path it does follow -- basically, what if The Three Stooges were fundamentalist would-be terrorists? -- allows Morris and his cast and co-writers to jape the obsessive nature of political rebels, the pecking order and brown-nosing that exists in any hierarchical organization, and the media's role in glorifying violence and terrifying the populace. (A giant in British television, Morris has already proven himself adept at satirizing news and online culture with his comedy series Brass Eye, The Day Today, and Nathan Barley.)
Four Lions is a movie that never shrinks away from its potentially terrifying subject matter, but it always finds the laughs among the horror, much as Stanley Kubrick put a clown nose on the threat of nuclear annihilation in Dr. Strangelove. You might not think you want to watch a satire about terrorism, but if you want to see the future of comedy, watch Four Lions and track down the complete works of Chris Morris (even if it means investing in a region-free DVD player -- his TV shows have never been released on DVD in the US).