Film Four Lions
www.list.co.uk/film
ASIANS TOOK PRIDE IN FAILING TEBBIT’S ‘CRICKET TEST’ Hitlist THE BEST FILM & DVD RELEASES*
✽✽ Samson and Delilah Powerful drama set in an Australian Aboriginal community. See review, page 46, and profile in listings. GFT, Glasgow & Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 2 Apr. ✽✽ I Am Love Inspired and accomplished Italian familial drama starring Tilda Swinton. See review, page 46, and profile in listings. GFT, Glasgow and selected release from Fri 9 Apr. ✽✽ Double Take Ingenious documentary/political commentary utilising old footage of Alfred Hitchcock. See review, page 45, and profile in listings. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 9–Sun 11 Apr. ✽✽ Cemetery Junction Impressive 1970s-set film collaboration between Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Ralph Fiennes stars. See review, page 45. General release from Wed 14 Apr. ✽✽ Psycho Digital reissue of 1960 Hitchcock horror. See Also Released, page 47. Selected release from Fri 2 Apr. ✽✽ Whip It Roller girls are go in Drew Barrymore’s likeable directorial debut. See feature, page 28 and review, page 47. General release from Fri 9 Apr. ✽✽ The Headless Woman Lynchian psychological horror. GFT, Glasgow from Fri 9–Thu 15 Apr. ✽✽ Lourdes Compelling holy fable. GFT, Glasgow; Filmhouse, Edinburgh until Thu 8 Apr. ✽✽ Kick-Ass A new breed of superhero. General release, out now. ✽✽ Safety Last Harold Lloyd’s stunning 1923 slapstick silent restored on new 35mm print. Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Fri 9–Tue 13 Apr. ✽✽ Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde Titillating 1971 Hammer horror reemerges on DVD, See review, page 57.
Fundamental health As muslims take centre stage in a couple of upcoming British comedy films, Kaleem Aftab asks, what’s so funny?
T he treatment of Muslims on our screens can sometimes seem to have come full circle in the 30 years since Michael Grade cancelled ITV’s cultural stereotype-derived comedy show Mind Your Language. Now British directors have once again decided that comedy stereotypes are the best way to deal with their Mecca facing friends.
David Baddiel’s The Infidel deals with the Arab- Israeli conflict while Chris Morris’ forthcoming Four Lions casts an eye over the hysterically popular currency of suicide bombers. The Infidel seems to follow a similar tack to several films in the past 30 years by trying to promote a harmonious one-world view, while Four Lions, directed by Chris Morris of Brass Eye fame, is designed to offend. It’s a measure of how far the treatment of Muslims on screen has come in three decades that it’s Chris Morris’ approach that is the more insightful and less ingratiating of the two. Muslim characters now populate TV soaps, films and radio like never before, although the bracketing of all Asians, whether they be Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Indian, Afghani, Pakistani or Sri Lankan into one category has ensured that all characters with a camel complexion are still mistakenly viewed as part of a homogeneous state.
It seems that the depiction of Asian characters in British film has evolved in stages. After initially being the butt of ill-informed jokes in a plethora of Carry On-type comedies in the 1960s and 70s, in the 80s Hanif Kureishi, through his script for My Beautiful Launderette and his novel The Buddha of Surburbia, provided the template for a series of works featuring
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characters desperate to be accepted into mainstream society. The dilemma they faced was in resolving the generational conflict between the traditional and modern identity. But this view seemed outdated even as it was being espoused, as Asians everywhere took pride in failing Norman Tebbit’s notorious ‘cricket test’, proudly supporting their homeland cricket team. By the 1990s, seemingly every UK film and TV show had an Asian character fall in love with an English opposite, only for the cultural differences to subside in the face of mutual love. Then, in 2001 the 9/11 attacks took place, and film financiers and TV commissioners searched desperately for scripts dealing with young muslim men and explaining why on earth they would want to blow themselves up. After a steady diet of films over the proceeding three years aimed at appeasing the liberal middle ground, it was no surprise that these serious dramas had the dual failings of being tedious and completely missing the point. So in 2010, we’ve seemingly reached a stage where it’s time for comedy to have another crack at it. In this case, just as Chris Morris’ film reaches a comedy cul- de-sac, the director delivers a coup de grace that echoes Hany Abu-Assad’s brilliant 2005 Palestinian drama Paradise Now. Four Lions may just signal a sea change in the media’s depiction of Muslims – but then again maybe not.
The Infidel is on selected release from Fri 9 Apr, see review, page 46. Four Lions is on general release from Fri 7 May.