Hilarious Infidel Goes Where Hollywood Fears to Tread

By Govindini Murty. There’s a very funny-looking film out in theaters right now called The Infidel.  The Infidel tells the story of a Muslim man who finds out that he was originally adopted, and is actually Jewish – and ‘that’s when the hijinks begin’ … Check out the trailer above – it is absolutely hilarious, and I am shocked that this film even got made.  This very politically-incorrect comedy screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, received positive reviews, and was released theatrically in the U.K. in April and in the U.S. in May.

Movies like The Infidel and Four Lions (discussed below) show that, at least in the U.K., the indie film world is starting to open-up to treating Islamic radicalism with the derision that it deserves.  Why Hollywood doesn’t have the bravery to make a film like this is beyond me, but we can at least be happy that the Brits made this.

I also hope that the conservative media here in the U.S. picks up on The Infidel and talks about it, because I think conservative audiences would absolutely love to hear about the film.  The Infidel may still be playing theatrically in New York (check your local listings) – but it’s available on Amazon right now by download below and in our LFM Store (note: Amazon downloads work only for PCs).  There are indications that it is also going to be available some time soon on Video on Demand at Netflix.  [If you want to sign up for a free trial subscription of Netflix, you can do so in the sidebar of our website.]

We will keep you posted about the various ways you can see The Infidel and we’ll try to post a review soon.  In the meantime, you can read a review of The Infidel by LFM contributor Joe Bendel on his personal blog here, and you can also read the New York Times review here.

The lead actor of The Infidel is Omid Djalili, a very funny British-Iranian comedian who has a number of YouTube videos up of his comic shorts and stand-up comedy acts.  Some of it is pretty raw and raunchy stuff, and he seems to make fun of just about everyone;  I’ve listed below a few of Djalili’s videos in which he pokes fun at Muslim terrorists and cultural customs.  The fact that Djalili is a Muslim himself shows that the process of loosening-up and self-questioning in the Muslim community (that I discussed previously in the post on Four Lions) is indeed under way.

And check out these videos:

Omid Djalili as a gay Scottish film student trying to make a movie with Osama bin Laden.

Omid Djalili on Arabs at the airport.

Omid Djalili on MiddleEast Enders.