Fire in Babylon

Set against a backdrop of colonial history and superiority, this is a cracking documentary that depicts the rise and sustained success of the West Indies cricket team that started in the 1970s and prevailed for over a decade. Using some remarkably good quality, and well researched, archive footage accompanied by some interesting quotes from many of the (now knighted) team members, Stevan Riley brings to life a wonderfully enigmatic story of ropey pitches, of lethal bowling, of just how this "gentleman's" game ended up with just too much at stake for both the Caribbean players and their, usually, English counterparts - to take on the chin. The rivalry is well illustrated and this features an impressively comprehensive list of contributors whose insight into both sides of the game - that was little short of war, in many eyes - is enthralling. I'm a Scot, ergo I'm no great cricket lover and the sight of the English team losing is unlikely to cause me to lose sleep - but this works hard to create a balance. It demonstrates how skill and determination made these Test matches the stuff of sporting legend from both team's perspectives. This really is well worth ninety minutes of your time, regardless of your interest in the sport - it shows the emergence from empire in a positive and often victorious fashion.

It was a privilege to attend the World Premiere of this new documentary at the 2010 London Film Festival. Director Stevan Riley has made an exhilarating piece that describes the events which led to the West Indies cricket team rising from also-rans in the early 1970s to a fearsome, all-conquering force by end of the decade, and at the same time becoming cultural icons who inspired a generation of black people still struggling to emerge from a history of slavery and oppression.

The story is told entirely from the West Indians' point of view, and in their own words - this is not so much a discussion as a celebration of an inarguably glorious period of sporting history. The list of contributors is a cricketing hall-of-fame roll call: Richards, Lloyd, Holding, Roberts, Greenidge, Haynes, Garner and more are joined by other significant names from Caribbean culture. All are hugely entertaining orators who could easily have kept this relatively short production going for another 3 hours.

This is a film that should appeal to cricket fans, sports fans, and those not remotely interested in sport. A film full of entirely new interviews and perspectives will please the already-initiated, but the wider significance of this cricketing success make it accessible, and vital, viewing for everyone.

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.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

A documentary by Stevan Riley, charting the rise of the West Inides cricket team during the late 1970s and early 1980s, from their humiliating defeat in Australia in 1975, which spurred them on to form an electrifying team that took on the likes of England and India, lifting the hopes of a people and a nation, from the sturdy leadership of Clive Lloyd, onto the enigmatic Viv Richards.

In documentary terms, Fire in Babylon is a relatively unremarkable effort, not playing out in any way that really breaks from genre conventions or offers anything you haven't seen before. However, the natural colour and vibrancy of the culture it's telling the story of manages to give it a real life and soul of it's own, that is in itself something different. ***

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.