Four Lions December 5, 2010

One of the most brilliant and intelligent films I’ve seen since F for Fake. It works on several levels, satirising not just a narrow “jihadist” mindset, but the type of stupidity which appears whenever radical politics turns into Good-vs-Evil (ie Us vs Them) dogmatism. It also seems to mix every type of satire, from slapstick farce through Monty Python to drier, understated “semantic” stuff.

I remember its creator/director (Chris Morris) once saying in an interview that he didn’t want to churn out the kind of thing that would make him sound like Tariq Ali:

But the idea of setting out with a political or moral hit-list repels him: “Down that route lies Tariq Ali, and the most lame-arsed, unamusing botched attempts at satire.” Independent, 20 April 2000

Clip of Chris Morris at film’s premiere >