Last Tuesday, Fire in Babylon premiered in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, written and directed by Stevan Riley, highlighted the dominance of the West Indies cricket team in the 1970s and 1980s. Team members talked about their, 5-1, loss to Australia in the 1975-76 test, and that being the beginning of their transformation. Many felt Australia deliberately bowled the ball not to get a wicket but to bowl their heads off or leave bodily scars. When the test was finished West Indies recruited fast bowlers and went from being derogatively known as Calypso Cricketers to eventually having the best fast bowlers and batsmen in test cricket.
Riley only spoke to members of the team saying he wanted the film to be “totally authentic by allowing the West Indies to tell the story.” Clive Lloyd, the first black captain, and Vivian Richards among other team members spoke of experiencing racism in Australia and England by other players and fans. Some spoke of not making an adequate living and choosing to play in South Africa against the apartheid ban and the wishes of their teammates, while others played in the World Series Cup.
The film mainly focuses on the pride the players developed while playing for West Indies. “Here we are several dots on the map and we are dominating the world,” said fast bowler Andy Roberts. He and the team went from being a laughing stock to being feared. Now they were the team inflicting harm with their bowlers. Suddenly rules were changed and they were accused of "bringing the game in disrepute.”
Other West Indies members felt a test against England was an opportunity to beat the Englishmen who were once their slave masters and inventors of the game. “It was like slaves whipping the asses of our masters,” said one player. Another said, “we wanted to show the Englishman ‘you brought the game to us and now we’re better than you.’ ”
The colorful film is loaded with Mento, Reggae, Dub poetry and Calypso singers and songs and addresses the importance of some of Bob Marley’s African liberation lyrics. But the most colorful player is fast bowler Roberts, who said when he was playing he never showed emotions so the other team wouldn’t know what to expect. In a deadpan manner he acts as though he didn’t know how dangerous his balls were and said, “I didn’t go out to hit people is just that a lot of people got hit.”
West Indies dominated the game for 15 years, never losing a test match in that time.
West Indies dominated the game for 15 years, never losing a test match in that time.
Fire in Babylon will be in theaters this summer.
