Episode 164 - Four Lions

This week we're talking Chicken Cottage, Rubber Dingy Rapids, Brave Mufasa and teaching you absolutely everything we know about Islam whilst dancing in the moonlight with Toploader.

It's categorically got to be Chris Morris' Four Lions with James from Hallmark of Greatness.

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Join Planty, James and Joe every two weeks on Hallmark of greatness whereever you get your podcasts. I mean do, or Joe will mercilessly beat us.

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Four Lions is a 2010 British political satire black comedy film directed by Chris Morris (in his feature film debut) from a screenplay written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.[3] It stars Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Arsher Ali and Adeel Akhtar. In the film, a group of dimwitted homegrown terrorist jihadis attempt to plan an attack in Britain.

Production on Four Lions began in late 2008, with writing partners Armstrong and Bain hired to complete the screenplay. Prior to this, Morris spent multiple years researching for the film, conducting interviews with terrorism and religion experts, law enforcement, and British Muslims. Principal photography took place in May 2009, with filming primarily done on location in Sheffield.

Four Lions first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 23 January 2010, and was released in the United Kingdom on 7 May, by Optimum Releasing. The film grossed £6 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the screenplay, direction, themes, humour, and cast performances (particularly Ahmed's).

Plot

Four radicalised British Muslim men living in Sheffield (three of whom are British Pakistani) aspire to become suicide bombers: Omar, who is deeply critical of Western society and interventionism; his dim-witted and anxious cousin Waj; Barry, a bad-tempered and rash English convert; and the naive Faisal. When Omar and Waj travel to an al-Qaeda-affiliated training camp in Pakistan, Barry recruits a fifth member, Hassan, after witnessing him pretending to commit a suicide bombing at a conference. The training in Pakistan ends in disaster when Omar accidentally destroys part of the camp attempting to shoot down a suspected drone; the pair are forced to flee. Omar later uses the experience to assert authority on the group on his return to Britain.

The group disagrees about what the target should be. Barry wants to bomb a local mosque as a false flag operation to "radicalise the moderates" and Faisal suggests blowing up a Boots because it sells contraceptives and tampons. Ahmed, Omar's conservative, pacifist brother, tries to talk him out of doing anything violent; however, Omar and his wife mock Ahmed for keeping his wife in a small room. After the group begins production of the explosives, Hassan is left to watch the safehouse as Barry, Waj and Faisal test detonate a small amount of TATP contained in a microwave, using a nearby fireworks show to cover the sound.

When they return, they find Hassan dancing with an oblivious neighbour. The group suspects they have been compromised and transport the explosives to a new location in grocery bags. Faisal trips up while crossing a field and is killed in the explosion. This angers Omar, who berates the others and leaves. Faisal's head is found, tipping off the authorities, and Omar tells the others and they reconcile. Omar decides to target the upcoming London Marathon due to having access to mascot costumes, which they use to conceal the bombs. Meanwhile, armed police raid Omar's brother's house.

At the Marathon, Waj expresses doubts about the morality of their plot, but Omar convinces him to go through with it. A police officer approaches the group, which leads Hassan to attempt to alert the officer about their plot, but is killed when Barry remotely detonates his bomb. The remaining three panic and run away as the police search for them. Omar has a change of heart, feeling guilt about manipulating Waj into dying for a cause he does not understand and attempts to prevent the attack. Two police snipers receive Omar's description, a man dressed as the Honey Monster, but one of them mistakenly kills a bystander in a Wookiee costume.

Waj is cornered by police in a kebab shop and takes the staff hostage. Omar calls Waj and convinces him to let all but one of the hostages go. Barry finds Omar, snatches his phone, and swallows the SIM card. However, as Barry begins to choke, a well-meaning passer-by attempts to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre, forcing Omar to flee before Barry's bombs are inadvertently detonated.

Omar hurries to a nearby phone store to buy a new SIM card to contact Waj but leaves empty-handed. He spots a colleague and borrows his phone. Omar attempts to talk Waj down, but his call is interrupted when the police charge in and kill the remaining hostage, whom they mistake for Waj. Waj's bomb is then detonated, killing everyone in the kebab shop. Distraught, Omar walks into a nearby pharmacy and detonates his own bomb.

In an epilogue, it is revealed the police later arrested Omar's innocent brother as a terrorist and abducted him to a black site; that they deflect responsibility for shooting the hostage and the bystander; and that Omar unknowingly killed Osama bin Laden when misfiring the rocket in Pakistan.

Cast

Riz Ahmed as Omar, a security guard with a slight temper who is the leader and the most rational of the terrorist cell

Kayvan Novak as Waj, Omar's dim-witted and anxious cousin; although dim-witted, he has enough sense to consult Omar or Barry before making decisions

Nigel Lindsay as Barry / Azzam Al-Britani, a rash convert with an explosive temper and the founder of the "Islamic State of Tinsley" who often comes to blows with Omar over who leads

Adeel Akhtar as Faisal, a naive member who always trusts Barry. He has a father who sees "creatures" that are not there.

Arsher Ali as Hassan Malik, a rapper who joins the cell after Barry witnesses him pretending to blow himself up in protest at a conference

Craig Parkinson as Matt, a security guard and Omar's coworker

Preeya Kalidas as Sofia, Omar's wife and a nurse in a local hospital

Julia Davis as Alice

Benedict Cumberbatch as Ed, a Special Branch Negotiator

Alex Macqueen as Malcolm Storge MP, a member of the Counter Terrorism Strategy Unit

Kevin Eldon as Sniper

Darren Boyd as Sniper

Mohammad Aqil as Mahmood, Omar's young son

Wazim Takir as Ahmed, Omar's devoutly conservative but pacifist brother

William El-Gardi as Khalid