Fire in Babylon

It is a good watch for a cricket fan especially. But being a documentary, using wrong facts is enough to put off a lot of people who are able to catch the inaccuracy. And this documentary does it on more than one occasion.

In one of the matches in the 1976 series between WI and India, several Indian batsman were injured and had to retire hurt! Stevan Riley uses this fact and presents that Indians were demolished in the series by a fearsome WI team (when in fact the series was 2-1 in favor of WI and India had won one of the matches on back of a record 4th inning chase of 404 that was broken only in 2003 says a lot).

A more glaring inaccuracy: Stevan uses the video footage of a 1981 incident to depict that Indians could not face WI in 1975-76 series and walked off the field declaring their innings. The video footage is of an incident in Australia when Sunil Gavaskar threw tantrums on being given out lbw (possibly incorrectly) against Lillee and was walking off with his partner in disgust!

For a documentary to depict inaccurate facts is big turn off! It would have been OK if it was some 'masala' movie but definitely not for a documentary which claims to document some true incidents.

When i was growing up , the West Indies were the greatest cricket team in the world. I remember the great Viv Richards smacking the ball all over the place and the " Blackwash" tour of 1985 when The West Indies thrashed us 5-0 but i wasn't aware of the history of what happened years before then.

Fire in Babylon is a fantastic documentary film that charts the history of how and why these fantastic sportsman remain legends in West Indian sporting and cultural history.

This is the story told from the point of view of the players and some West Indian musicians and famous personalities. It's a mixture if interviews interspersed with some fantastic old footage.

These men had a grudge and not just a cricket grudge. They wanted revenge for history and i don't think the English realised it - in fact i know we didn't.

A group of people like these come along once in a lifetime and "Fire In Babylon" documents what they did perfectly.

Great Stuff.

First off a warning! "Fire in Babylon" is for TEST MATCH CRICKET connoisseurs. If T20, IPL, ODI is your ball game then you are better off staying away from this documentary.

Having said that "FIB" is not just about cricket; even if you have just a passing interest in the game you can still enjoy it as the film is about issues as eclectic as the rise of Black power in sports, Racism,Rastafarian culture, the unification of Caribbean islands which appear as just drops in an mass of water on the world map as West Indies, commercialization of sports and leadership.

For me and for a lot of other viewers it could just be once in a life time opportunity to watch your childhood cricket heroes come alive on celluloid screen. Or just to experience the phenomenon of what it was like for a team to dominate a sport/any sport for 15 years like no other team did before or after.

The film chronicles the transformation of West Indian Cricket team from a bunch of calypso style cricketers (entertaining and talented losers) to world beaters and how once West Indians started dominating the sport it gave the self belief to other black people that they were second to none irrespective of what sport they were playing What Tommie Smith started with Black Power Salute at the podium of 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City reached its pinnacle with the release of Nelson Mandela from South African prison. The film touches upon these and other history altering moments such as use of 4 pronged genuine pace attack as a weapon of annihilation on cricket pitch, Bob Marley's influence on Viv Richards' batting, Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket and how it changed the very soul of the game. Cricket, here, is simply the centerpiece of a much broader emancipation process.

Best part of the movie is that even though West Indies were 2 time world champs in One day cricket, the movie makes no reference to it.

Maybe 87 minutes is too short a runtime, however I would have liked to see a bit more of Malcolm Marshall. In my opinion, he was no less (if not better) than Michael Holding and Andy Roberts. Its hard to imagine a line up of Caribbean greats without Marshall spearheading the pace attack.

Catches win matches and the world beating West Indians too were an outsanding fielding unit comprising of live wires Clive Lloyd,Viv Richards and Gus Logie. There is absolutely no mention of this aspect.

I have watched umpteen Bollywood movies (with the exception of "Lagaan") based on cricket which made me hate the game but finally here is a movie that made me fall in love with cricket all over again.

This would be it. A very, very good example of the documentary film art, I think. I was a child in the 70s, and loved watching the matches and players referred to in this film, but had no idea what was going on off the pitch.

Of course the film makers have a point of view they are promoting, but since it's one that was NEVER heard elsewhere, it is certainly fair that they take the chance to provide a different context and some background to the very widely promoted views of the Windies pace attack of the time. The clear connection between the socio-political environment and the players' motivation was fascinating, and the graphic illustration of the shameless and shameful racism and colonial bigotry was illuminating. I can't recommend this film highly enough to any fan of sports documentaries.

Cricket, a game so vast and important, have really lost it's way in past few decades. This documentary definitely shows the impact of cricket in colonies, and the psychology behind the sport in it's early modern days.

West Indies were champions, and this sporting lead is way bigger than many we have seen in other sports over the years. Cricket is underrated and these stories are getting the brunt of it, as they really struggle to get a reach.

As time progresses, it would be even more important to remember the colonial past as it will keep being distinct, and that will stop so many people from reaching their peak.

In the end, it's about sports, but the bigger theme is definitely human emotions, and fast bowling. Fast bowling is the most dangerous thing on a cricket field, and the sport is getting more and more difficult for them as the new ruled keep trimming the value of bowlers.

So, I believe that every cricketer, and decision maker should see this and learn the game from these legends.