If there has ever been a movie that has made me question my reactions, it is this one. Four Lions takes the subject of terrorism and give it a darkly comedic spin.

A group of highly inept jihadists attempt to make it to the big-time and commit and act of terrorism that will solidify their names in the martyrdom hall of fame. While your first reaction to a film like this might be to call it repulsive or insensitive…actually, that is an acceptable reaction. Still, I thought that this movie had something beyond mere shock value—it was funny, sometimes.

After being forcefully kicked out of a Taliban training camp, blowing up a crow, and blowing up one of their own, you get the idea that these men simply might not be fit to be terrorists. You also begin to think that, while the perception of the world’s terrorist population usually leans toward criminal masterminds, there are many idiots out there who are in the fight for their own reasons.

Essentially, this group of four men is like any other group of men in a comedy. Take your pick—The Inbetweeners, Road Trip, Old School—you’ve got your sensible leader, your overly intense and enthusiastic prick, your dense and painfully dumb comrade, and the other guy who just happens to make it an even number. The only difference between Four Lions and those other movies is that the men in Four Lions are trying to blow people up and the men in Old School are trying to get laid and get drunk.

I watched this movie with a friend and I remember that we would both pause and look at each other before deciding whether or not it was okay to laugh. Our eyes would widen in amazement and out mouths would fall open in horror before we took a minute, turned to each other slowly, and started to chuckle, then laugh, and then cry.

This movie might disgust you. In fact, it is more of a probability then a possibility. However, it does offer some great insights into a world that I know very little about. Not to mention, it tackled subject matter that makes most people squirm, and it did it with such a fresh perspective that you might even be able to relate.