''Fire in Babylon'' is a 2010 British

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the record-breaking West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and 1980s. Featuring

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

and interviews with several former players and officials, including

Colin Croft Colin Everton Hunte Croft (born 15 March 1953) is a former West Indian international cricketer. He was a member of the squad which won the 1979 Cricket World Cup. Cricket career Croft was (along with Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, and Joel ...

Deryck Murray Deryck Lance Murray (born 20 May 1943) is a former West Indies cricketer. A wicketkeeper and right-handed batsman, Murray kept wicket to the West Indian fast bowling attacks of the 1970s (including Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Joel Garner a ...

Joel Garner Joel Garner (born 16 December 1952) is a former West Indian cricketer, and a member of the highly regarded late 1970s and early 1980s West Indies cricket teams. Garner is the highest ranked One Day International bowler according to the ICC bes ...

Gordon Greenidge Sir Cuthbert Gordon Greenidge (born 1 May 1951) is a Barbadian retired cricketer who represented the West Indies in Test and One Day International (ODI) teams for 17 years, as well as Barbados and Hampshire in first-class cricket. Greenidge is r ...

Desmond Haynes Desmond Leo Haynes (born 15 February 1956) is a former Barbadian cricketer and cricket coach who played for the West Indies cricket team between 1978 and 1994. He was a member of the squads which won the 1979 Cricket World Cup as well as finis ...

Michael Holding Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering De ...

Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese- British former cricketer and captain of the West Indies cricket team. Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in ...

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

and Andy Roberts, the film was written and directed by Stevan Riley and was nominated for a

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports, and promotes British independent cinema and film-making talent in the United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early Nov ...

for Best Documentary. It was the joint-winner (with '' Reggae Britannia'') of the UNESCO Award at the Jamaica Reggae Film Festival 2011.

Synopsis

The documentary describes the ascension of West Indies cricket from being a team largely composed of highly talented, entertaining, "Calypso Cricketers" to a determined unit that dominated world cricket for almost twenty years. It begins with an introduction to the West Indies Cricket Team, using interviews with West Indian cricketing greats, and other people closely associated with West Indies cricket. The idea of culturally and politically different

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

nations playing under the common banner of the West Indies is described. The history of cricket in the West Indies is briefly described, such as the appointment of

Sir Frank Worrell Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a Barbadian West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, ...

as the first black man to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

the West Indies Cricket Team, and the emergence of such cricketing greats as

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Gold Crown of Merit, GCM, Order of the British Empire, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the har ...

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a Trinidadian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black peer ...

, and

Sir Garfield Sobers The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, NH, AO, OCC (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a Barbadian born former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowle ...

is represented. However talented these individual cricketers were, they were unable to fetch results, resulting in the West Indies being perceived as "Calypso Cricketers", that is, people who were entertaining to watch, but would eventually lose. This documentary depicts the emergence of a new crop of West Indian cricketers in the 1970s that was eager to shake the tag of Calypso and who could compete on the world stage.

, appointed as Captain in 1974, is portrayed as a guiding hand, who could steer a young team in the right direction, uniting them for a common cause on the cricket field. With Lloyd as Captain, the team's first major challenge came in the 1975-76 West Indies Tour of Australia. Australians

Dennis Lillee Dennis Keith Lillee, (born 18 July 1949) is a retired Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation".

and

Jeff Thomson Jeffrey Robert Thomson (born 16 August 1950) is a former Australian cricketer. Known as "Thommo", he is one of the fastest bowlers in the history of cricket; he bowled a delivery with a speed of 160.6 km/h against the West Indies in Perth ...

destroyed the West Indies with their

fast bowling Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

. Frequent

bouncer A bouncer (also known as a door supervisor) is a type of security guard, employed at licensed or sanctioned venues such as bars, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, strip clubs and casinos. A bouncer's duties are to provide security, to check legal ag ...

s and intimidatory tactics led to the spirit of the team being shattered and the tour ended with Australia winning the six-match test series 5–1. At the end of the series, Clive Lloyd realizes that in order to win, it would be necessary for him to also cultivate

fast bowlers Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

as devastating as Lillee and Thomson. When the

Indian Cricket Team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Men in Blue, represents India in international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and is a full member nation of the International Cricket Council with T ...

toured the West Indies in 1976, Clive Lloyd tested his new plan of attack, relentlessly getting his fast bowlers such as Andy Roberts,

, and

Wayne Daniel Wayne Wendell Daniel (born 16 January 1956) is a former cricketer, who played as a right arm fast bowler. Daniel featured for the West Indies, Middlesex, Barbados and Western Australia in his cricketing career. He was the first person to hit a ...

to bowl short-pitched or

s to Indian batsman. While playing at

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

the Indian team declared on a second-innings lead of 12, after the management decided that they would rather not risk sending their bowlers such as

Bishen Singh Bedi Bishan Singh Bedi (25 September 1946 – 23 October 2023) was an Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He play ...

to face the fearsome fast bowling. Convinced of the effectiveness of pace bowling as an instrument to success, Clive Lloyd's team departed to their Tour of England in 1976. England Captain

Tony Greig Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born cricketer and commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish father. He was a tall () all-rounder who bowled both ...

's infamous "grovel" comment is shown in its entirety, and the effect it had on galvanising the team is described. After some highly aggressive fast bowling against the English batsmen, West Indian fast bowling is seen as being dangerous to the game. However, the West Indians feel that if the Australians could do it, so could they.

is shown as dominating the Test series as a

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, where he scored 829 runs in four

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

with two double-centuries. Viv Richards' refusal to be intimidated by fast bowling is also seen as the ideal way for a batsman to deal with West Indian bowling. The documentary then describes the struggle with their board for better pay, and how

Kerry Packer Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...

eventually enticed the team to participate in

World Series Cricket World Series Cricket (WSC) was a commercial professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 which was organised by Kerry Packer and his Australian television network, Nine Network. WSC ran in commercial competition to established ...

in 1977.

turns out to be a fore-runner of changes in cricket that only became permanent in the 1990s; such as coloured kits, day/night matches, and a greater emphasis on professionalism in play. The West Indian team emerges from the tournament fitter, stronger, and with a more professional outlook to the game. The 1982

Rebel Tour The South African rebel tours were a series of seven cricket tours staged between 1982 and 1990. They were known as the rebel tours because the international cricketing bodies banned South Africa from competitive international cricket througho ...

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

-ruled

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

is described.

chooses to go, earning him a life ban from the

West Indies Cricket Board Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Ind ...

. The main target of the regime, however, is international superstar

. Richards states that he was offered "a

blank cheque A blank cheque or blank check in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or va ...

", but decided to not go as it would validate the state-sponsored racism pursued by the South African Government at the time, as well as cause a large number of first-choice West Indian cricketers to follow him on the tour. It ends with a description of the West Indies' tour to England in 1984. With the emergence of fast bowling greats such as

and

Malcolm Marshall Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is widely regarded as one of the greatest and one of the most accomplished fast bowlers of the modern era in Test cricket ...

to take the place of Croft, the West Indies becomes unstoppable. After

's innings of 214 not out at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, the West Indians become an unstoppable force; defeating England 5–0 in the five-test series. In a turn on the regular term "

Whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

" to describe such a win, the series was instead dubbed Blackwash. The documentary ends with a description of how the West Indians earned the respect, admiration, and love of cricket fans and even opposing teams from across the world. As the end credits roll,

describes how between February, 1980 to March, 1995; the West Indies Cricket Team did not lose a single Test series. (it was preceded by the controversial West Indies tour of New Zealand in 1979–80)

Film festivals

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1727790 2010 films Cricket films 2010 documentary films Films directed by Stevan Riley 2010s English-language films British sports documentary films 2010s British films English-language documentary films

Synopsis

Film festivals

See also

References

External links