Fire In Babylon (U)

- Rating :
- Critic's
  (Review)
- User's
  5
  (52 Reviews)
Starring :
Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd, Michael Holding
Language : English Genre : Documentary
Synopsis :

From harmless 'calypso' cricketers to champions who mauled their enemy, how did the West Indies become cricket's giants?
Director :
Stevan Riley
Duration: 1 hrs & 30 mins

Rate This

Write Your Review

Reviews (52)

Trailer (1)

Synopsis

From harmless 'calypso' cricketers to champions who mauled their enemy, how did the West Indies become cricket's giants?

Critic's Review

Fire in Babylon (FIB) is a detailed sports documentary - and more. It's a vibrant' throbbing piece of world history told through the tale of test cricket played by one nation - the West Indies. FIB shows how the West Indies - where cricket, as an elderly Caribbean tells you in that glorious accent of rum and sun, is 'a daily situation' - went from being a team of harmless players facing humiliating defeats, to being lean, mean masters of the game. And it shows why this was vital. The West Indies's rise reflected the fight back against a colonial past, against a mindset of 'Babylon' which didn't treat all as equals, to win equality - and regard - from a grudging world.

Like a calypso number, FIB draws you in gently, its narrative swaying from a 1960s of confusing defeats, to a deadlier 1970s when under Clive Lloyd's focusing captaincy, the West Indies became the team every cricketing nation feared. FIB uses a host of rich narrative techniques - cricketing legends speaking about those glory days, press reports, black-and-white TV footage of matches, archival political footage of apartheid South Africa - policeman shooting black protestors, letting loose Alsatian dogs on them - all shaken up with West Indian music. It portrays how the West Indies realized they needed to fight humiliation - hard. And win the respect of their former British colonisers, of devastating Australian pace bowlers, of crowds who chanted 'Go back to the trees, black bastards'. In 1975, the West Indies was battered by Australia. In 1976, after English captain Tony Greig sneered, 'We'll make them grovel', press reports screamed, 'Look Who's Grovelling Now!'

FIB captures cricket's beauty. But it widens, showing how the West Indies unleashed a huge wave of black pride - vital when racism was acceptable in many parts of the world. By capturing how Viv Richards and Bob Marley connected - and how Ian Botham and Richards finally walked in smiling equality - FIB shows sports is more than a pastime. It's about the grit which pushes you to play a gentleman's game far from gently, going from what Frantz Fanon called the wretched of the earth, to its giants.

Catch it.

52 User Ratings & Reviews for Fire In Babylon

You can now SMS your reviews to 58888

Type rev<space>fir<space>your name<space>your rating(Choose 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 or 5)<space>Add your comments if any, and send to 58888 Eg: rev aar anuj 3 cool movie

Sort By: Newest/ Oldest/ Recommended (2)/ Most Discussed/ Agree/ Disagree/ Logged in Comments

Innocent guy
: 0

Rating 45

Review posted within last 6 month

quite realistic and enjoyable!

Was this useful? Yes Some what (1)
Reply
Report Abuse

Rating 0.05

Review posted within last 6 month

Quite good

Was this useful? Yes Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

Marco
: 0

Rating 4.55

Review posted within last 6 month

Wooowww what a documentary.... chronicles... the entire journey of the great WI team.... its now part of personal collection

Was this useful? Yes Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

Jeetendra Makhija
: 0

Rating 3.55

Review posted within last 6 month

Gives you insight how the down to earth west indians became dreaded 11. Every team in the world was afraid to face them. They were naturally talented and gave their everything to the game unlike today's cricketers who are more actors and less cricketers.

Was this useful? Yes Some what
Reply
Report Abuse

Rating 0.05