#Blogtober 20 - Canary Duty - The Day Shall Come

Real on the ball film criticism round here, getting to this a week after release!  I know, real life stuff and this whole challenge thing getting in the way.  Anyhoo, Chris Morris is one of the great satirists of our times, and his 2010 film Four Lions is one of my favourites, a biting take on the war of terror highlighting the uncomfortable fact that many that go for causes such as IS do so because... well, because they're kind of idiots.  It makes the point that a lot of fanatics, ready to use violence to achieve their aims, probably don't understand all that much about their causes in the first place.  The Day Shall Come makes for a good companion piece for Four Lions, as it's also about a rather inept revolutionary, but here it's all about the role that government forces do to make such people look a much larger threat.  Whilst I don't think that this one is as successful as Morris' first film, this is still a great slice of comedy with a powerful point to make.

Now all of the focus of the advertising of this film focuses on the somewhat out of his depth revolutionary Moses Al Shabazz, and his quest to overthrow white America, but the real target here is a force that's just as delusional in its own way, the FBI.  This was apparently based on "a hundred true stories" of FBI sting operations, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few of the film's more ridiculous moments (like how one such operation at the start goes wrong due to an odd phobia) are word for word from these events.  The Feds here see their mission in these operations as, if not for a chance to look like heroes and claim some glory and promotions, a real effort to take out a dangerous element from society before they can do harm.  Except the film makes clear that figures like Moses are harmless, they are not a source of any danger, if anything they need help (I appreciate the fact that the film makes clear that Moses not taking his medication is a very bad thing).  The real dangers are from other sources, and the film is not shy from making clear that the bias towards certain groups is almost entirely racist and religious based.  What's more, when the sting involving Moses spirals ridiculously out of control, the Feds are having to use ludicrous chains of logic to cover their own arses.

The fact that it's able to make these points in a film containing moments such as Moses mentioning in an arm's deal that he plans to summon dinosaurs to help is a credit to Morris and Jesse Armstong's script.  Major props also need to be given to Marchánt Davis, who plays Moses; this is his first feature film, and damn he does a great job, delivering some more ridiculous lines, like swearing to Black Santa Claus, in a perfectly deadpan fashion, but also delivering some actually valid political statements with gravitas too.  If nothing else comes from this movie, let this be how he gets noticed, he's a major talent that needs to be in more things.  Anna Kendrick is pretty good as well as the agent at the centre of this farce, especially with her always being aware of how her male colleagues will try to throw her under the bus, and always fighting against that, but never saying so out loud.  I must also give a shout out to the filming location of the Dominican Republic, doing a very good job of standing in for Florida.  This was actually filmed in semi-secret there a couple of years ago, we knew that Morris and Kendrick were making something, we just didn't know the details.

The Day Shall Come is not quite as strong as Four Lions, it has a bit more of a shaggy dog story feel to things, and the satire perhaps doesn't have quite the same bite, but it's still a damn funny film, with an ending that makes a powerful point.  This is the sort of smaller project that needs as much support as it can get; it's not playing at many cinemas, but my screening was pretty full, so it has got a good word of mouth already.  I do urge you all to see this on the big screen, it's a great fun time, if only to see the power of Allah channelled by horses.