Four Lions (2010) on Netflix
Omar, his cousin Waj, the bad-tempered English convert Barry and the naive Faisal are radicalized British Muslims in Sheffield. They aspire to become suicide bombers.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.3/1091,988 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes84%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Sheffield, Omar and three other radicalized Muslim men share a plan to become suicide bombers. His cousin Waj is dim-witted and anxious, Barry is a bad-tempered English convert, and Faisal is naive. Omar, critical of Western society and interventionism, takes Waj to a training camp in Pakistan; an attempt to shoot down a drone destroys part of the camp, and the two flee. While they are away, Barry brings in Hassan, a rapper he saw pretending to blow himself up at a conference. Back in Britain, Omar uses the trip to assert authority over the group, while his brother Ahmed, a pacifist, urges him to abandon violence and Omar's wife Sofia mocks Ahmed for refusing to share a room with a woman.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Four Lions (2010)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Part of the budget was crowdfunded: Chris Morris sent a mass email titled "Funding Mentalism" suggesting fans contribute between 25 and 100 pounds each to the production costs, and that they would appear as extras in return.
- Riz Ahmed initially declined the role of Omar but signed on because he felt the film "challenged stereotypes"; Morris had noticed him after he wrote "Post 9/11 Blues", a song about being detained at Luton Airport following a screening of the docudrama Road to Guantanamo in Berlin.
- Chris Morris spent three years researching the project, speaking to terrorism experts, police, the secret service and imams as well as ordinary Muslims, before writing the script in 2007.
- During the making of the film the director sent the script to former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, who said he found nothing in it that would be offensive to British Muslims.
- Despite its acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, Four Lions failed to find a distributor in the United States for nine months, until the newly formed Drafthouse Films picked it up.
