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Fire In Babylon

PG
Stevan Riley, 82 mins, UK, 2010, Digital Betacam. Source: Madman Entertainment. Courtesy: Madman Entertainment.

Fire In Babylon

A potent mix of music, politics and sporting prowess, Stevan Riley's exuberant documentary charts the rise of one of the most successful sporting teams in history.

After a series of humiliating defeats in the mid 1970s, the West Indian cricket team underwent an astonishing transformation from 'Calypso Cricketers' to an unbeatable force. Against the back drop of Caribbean civil unrest, apartheid-era South Africa and race riots in the UK, the team found inspiration from the Black Power movement and took their politics directly to the pitch.

Led by the great Clive Lloyd (and later the legendary Viv Richards), the 'Windies' assembled an explosive athletic attack on the pudgy colonial game and their former masters. With their "four horsemen of the apocalypse" (Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner) bowling at over 90mph, they utterly destroyed their opponents and changed the game forever.

Intercutting exhilarating match footage from the 1970s and 1980s with contemporary interviews, Riley expertly unfurls the politics, the music and mantra behind these incredible individuals and their legendary defiance against oppression.