ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Ali_Asgar This movie captures the spirit of the times and invokes a nostalgia for all those who grew up in that period. The West Indies team of the 70s and 80s had the most naturally talented and passionate players cricket has seen. With their hard work and an unyielding approach to victory, they more than made up for their lack of resources. This made them the most exciting team to watch. In fact a lot of people of my generation lost interest in cricket with the decline of the West Indies. This movie reignites that fire inside. Where this movie falters is giving too much focus on fast bowling. The West Indians were also great batsmen. Very little of it was covered except Richards. They were also athletic fielders and had great mental strength. Their victory over Australia was not just about intimidating bowling but was also about getting comfortable against Lillee and Thompson.

rpattanaik First of all, the movies has little to do with Cricket. If you are not a cricket fan, there is very little you will understand anyway. If you are cricket fan, there is nothing for you in it.Secondly, it bends facts.Yes, they lost to Australia 5-1 in 75. But the series was a good one. West Indies had won the 2nd test by an innings. WI had Roberts and Holding. They could have played the same game the Aussies did.Now they talk about using the short pitched stuff against the Indians because they were at the receiving ends down under. That is not a fact. In that series in 76, WI won the first test. India won the second coming from behind and scoring 418/4 or something like that. Both Gavaskar and Vishwanath scored centuries. That was too much for WI to stomach. What they did in Kingston was disgraceful. Absolutely disgraceful. All they did was to bowl bouncers on a track tailor made for their bowlers. They did not spare the tailenders. The crowd screamed for blood.They were not as nice as they project themselves to be. They were perhaps the greatest cricket team. But one of the ugliest. It was a good thing India got its revenge in the 83 World Cup.

gregking4 In the late 60's, the West Indies cricket team was regarded as something of a joke, and their pathetic on field performances were greeted with the derogatory term "Calypso Cricket." They also had to deal with prejudice and racist taunts on the sporting field. The team reached a low point in the 1975 Test tour of Australia when they were comprehensively thrashed. Determined to turn their image around captain Clive Lloyd began to rebuild the team. By the end of the 70's the West Indies had become virtually invincible, and for fifteen years they dominated the sport like no other team, remaining unbeaten in Test matches during that period. Fire In Babylon is a real story of the triumph of an underdog against the odds. It places the rise of the West Indies team against a broader social, cultural and political background – South Africa was in the grip of the brutal apartheid regime, England suffered race riots, and the Caribbean itself was scarred by civil unrest. The documentary looks at the civil rights movement, the country's drive to seek independence and shake of its colonial roots, the move towards freedom, unity, and pride, and how the achievements of the cricket team on the field reflected this turbulent period of social change. The film also looks at the development of Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket and how it forever changed the face of cricket. Writer/director Stevan Riley (Blue Blood, etc) obviously has a passion for sports-based documentaries. Here he draws upon a wealth of deftly edited archival material; and there is plenty of cricket action, especially in the marvellous footage of their fast bowlers besieging the opposition batsmen. There are also interviews with a number of famous figures including Viv Richards, Clive Lloyd and fast bowler Michael Harding, who talk candidly about the resurgence of the West Indies team. And there is a reggae-flavoured soundtrack too! Even if you do not particularly like cricket, this is a fascinating, revealing and accessible documentary.

Dhaval Shah This documentary portrays all the West Indian fast bowlers of that age in a defensive stance. Except Sir Viv Richards they did not have any genuine good batsman, so they banked upon the fast bowlers to 'throw' the ball at opponents body and call that genuine fast bowling. This kind of portrayal is utter disrespect of cricket.Also saying that India surrendered in the fourth test at Sabina Park is a clear indication of baseless arrogance among the West Indian cricketers. It was the desperation of West Indies to win the test series after the humiliation in Australian which led them to employ techniques of throwing short pitched bowls aimed at the batsman's body and then defend their atrocity by saying that 'If they did not complain of the punishment received at the hands of Australians then why should Indians complain.' and also that 'Indians were ill-equipped to play fast bowling'. But it does not mention the record chase of 404 runs by the Indians in the second test of the same series after which they unleashed cheap techniques to win the fourth test.Later when rules were formalized for fast bowling so that bowlers like Andy Roberts, Michael Holding etc. do not deliberately injure batsmen, they show as if the rules were made in order to decimate West Indian fast bowling. This sort of accusations alone display what sort of spirit that team had for cricket - it was annoyance and disgust for others and the thirst to show that they are superior than others even if it takes to maim the opponent team.