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*** West Indies Cricket Documentary ***

FireInBabylon

Cricket Spectator
Hi Everyone,

We just wanted to let you know about a new Cricket Documentary called FIRE IN BABYLON. It follows the breathtaking story of how the West Indies triumphed over its colonial masters through the achievements of one of the most gifted teams in sporting history.

Fast bowlers, race riots and world cup glory! Featuring interviews with Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and more, FIRE IN BABYLON is their story, told in their own words.

If you're interested in the movie, please check out the trailer here: Fire In Babylon Trailer

Find out more at the Official Website
 
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Howe_zat

Audio File
I'd heard of this, saw a review from Cricket With Balls:

I’ve just come home from the World Premiere of a new documentary about cricket, Fire In Babylon.
It should be noted that I wasn’t invited as some sort of viral thing, but that I bought a ticket to a film and the showing I went to happened to be a world premiere. I did weasel my way into the after party though. Whisky ****tails aren’t to be ****ted at.
The film was good too.
Really good.
It was political, crickety, had a kick ass soundtrack and vision of Rodney Hogg hitting Viv Richards.
It is essentially a love letter to the great West Indies team of the 70s and 80s.
Told in their words, the players tell you how they were racially abused by aussie crowds, racially profiled by the English media, willing to kill a few Indians, and all that other good stuff while they show more short balls that hit people than I might have seen in the last 10 years combined.
The film is not perfect.
It skips over several cool things like Wes Hall, Frank Worrell, when they used spinners to bore people, white captains and even George Headley.
It is amazing to see a film about West Indies cricket that Garfield Sobers is no more than a whisper in.
Even Malcolm Marshall is largely ignored as the film stops in 1984.
But what I like about it the most is that it is just about one period in cricket.
Too many cricket films try and cover too much, this limits it self to one period.
I might have done it slightly differently and used the 60/61 tour as a building block to the mid 70s, but this still worked.
It’s also important to note that this was a film made by a fan of the 80s windies and not a cricket fan.
That isn’t a flaw, but a different take on what most cricket nerds (and there were plenty of us in discussion afterwards) would have made.
This is cricket’s answer to When We Were Kings, and while it wasn’t as good, it was still a top cricket documentary.
The two reasons to see this film to me are that Don Bradman’s name is never uttered and that Bunny Wailer is in it.
Plus, the combination of lots of men getting hit and Andy Roberts oneliners is worth a ticket alone.
I found it quite inspiring, and hopefully the good reviews mean that others can make similar documentaries, and by others, I mean me.
 

Top_Cat

Request Your Custom Title Now!
heh, I noted the similarities to One Day in September so wasn't surprised when I see the same group produced it. Set in the 70's? Check. Kickarse sound track? Check. Yellow and red all over the promo? Check.

One Day in September was pretty magnetic and a lot of it was down to it's sensory style both, visual and auditory. Didn't need to be 100% factually accurate to get it's point across and I suspect this might be in the same boat. Look forward to seeing it.
 
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shivfan

Banned
I wouldn't mind getting a copy when this comes out....

When is it in cinemas? May? And is it June before it goes on DVD?
 

Borges

International Regular
Definitely going to watch the movie, though I'm quite apprehensive that it will get cloying after some number of minutes. Since the views of their famous adversaries which would have provided some counterbalance would, I suspect, be conspicuously absent. Like a Bradman vs. Tendulkar thread in an Aussie-only or Indian-only board.
 

Uppercut

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Representative two-sided discussions<<<<<< heavily dramatised accounts of angry West Indian men hitting toffs on the head with cricket balls.
 

shivfan

Banned
I just hope it's going to have more action, and less talk....

The problem with a lot of cricket documentaries I've seen is that they tend to be full of ex-cricketers talking a lot, and just a limited amount of action.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
I just hope it's going to have more action, and less talk....

The problem with a lot of cricket documentaries I've seen is that they tend to be full of ex-cricketers talking a lot, and just a limited amount of action.
This
 

zaremba

Cricketer Of The Year
Just been to see it at the BFI with Wisden18.

Great film. Great sound-track. Plenty of cricket action and a dollop of social/historical commentary. Great footage and photos including, naturally, lots of vicious bouncers narrowly missing batsmen, and some squarely hitting them. A fair amount of talking-heads stuff from Viv Richards, Colin Croft, Deryck Murray (sp?), and a bit of Big Bird, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, Dessie Haynes and others. The real star of the show, though, was the sinister-yet-loveable Andy Roberts, who came across, as he's always come across to me, as the sort of man who'd carry a knife. His greatest line in the film: "They called me Hit Man. I don't know why. I didn't try to hit people. But... people... did... get hit."

My main gripe is that it ends quite suddenly after the 1984 blackwash series (the series that, England fans will recall, was cancelled shortly before the 1st Test. The oft-quoted 5-0 scoreline refers to the exhibition matches played by non-representative teams). I'd have loved to see more - the second blackwash series, the rise of Ambrose, Walsh and Lara - but then I'm a cricket nerd and I suppose the big story to the wider film-going public is what happened between 76 and 84. It's just that I'd had my appetite whetted by the stuff we were treated to.

Afterwards they had a Q&A session with the director and producer, plus Colin Croft, Gordon Greenidge, and Jeff Thomson, which was excellent.
 

Cruxdude

International Debutant
Would love to see it at the theaters. Don't think it will be shown in theaters at the US. Maybe they will be showing it in India and I could catch it on my trip to India.
 

gvenkat

State Captain
Would love to see it at the theaters. Don't think it will be shown in theaters at the US. Maybe they will be showing it in India and I could catch it on my trip to India.
You must be joking, In India?? :laugh:

FFS, those who run the film business in India think Lagaan is the definitive cricket movie.
 
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shivfan

Banned
My main gripe is that it ends quite suddenly after the 1984 blackwash series (the series that, England fans will recall, was cancelled shortly before the 1st Test. The oft-quoted 5-0 scoreline refers to the exhibition matches played by non-representative teams). I'd have loved to see more - the second blackwash series, the rise of Ambrose, Walsh and Lara - but then I'm a cricket nerd and I suppose the big story to the wider film-going public is what happened between 76 and 84. It's just that I'd had my appetite whetted by the stuff we were treated to.
That's unfortunate....

I would've liked to have seen the England tour of the Caribbean too, plus Hadlee and his bouncer contest with Garner, and the eventual, ridiculous law that has restricted the use of the bouncer in Test cricket, and a proper assessment of it, and why it was implemented.

But still, I'm looking forward to seeing it....
 

smash84

The Tiger King
You must be joking, In India?? :laugh:

FFS, those who run the film business in India think Lagaan is the definitive cricket movie.
tbf Lagaan wasn't such a bad movie (one of the few Indian movies that I have ever watched)

That's unfortunate....

I would've liked to have seen the England tour of the Caribbean too, plus Hadlee and his bouncer contest with Garner, a..
Hadlee-Garner bouncer contest? Can you shed more light on this???? Sounds interesting.
 

Howe_zat

Audio File
Just been to see it at the BFI with Wisden18.

Great film. Great sound-track. Plenty of cricket action and a dollop of social/historical commentary. Great footage and photos including, naturally, lots of vicious bouncers narrowly missing batsmen, and some squarely hitting them. A fair amount of talking-heads stuff from Viv Richards, Colin Croft, Deryck Murray (sp?), and a bit of Big Bird, Clive Lloyd, Gordon Greenidge, Dessie Haynes and others. The real star of the show, though, was the sinister-yet-loveable Andy Roberts, who came across, as he's always come across to me, as the sort of man who'd carry a knife. His greatest line in the film: "They called me Hit Man. I don't know why. I didn't try to hit people. But... people... did... get hit."

My main gripe is that it ends quite suddenly after the 1984 blackwash series (the series that, England fans will recall, was cancelled shortly before the 1st Test. The oft-quoted 5-0 scoreline refers to the exhibition matches played by non-representative teams). I'd have loved to see more - the second blackwash series, the rise of Ambrose, Walsh and Lara - but then I'm a cricket nerd and I suppose the big story to the wider film-going public is what happened between 76 and 84. It's just that I'd had my appetite whetted by the stuff we were treated to.

Afterwards they had a Q&A session with the director and producer, plus Colin Croft, Gordon Greenidge, and Jeff Thomson, which was excellent.
I've heard this about it, also that some people take issue with it barely mentioning the likes of Headley, Hall, the Ws and Sobers. But then, if your main problem with something is that there's not enough of it, that can only be a good sign.
 

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