Born in Flames

This film has some amazing visuals by virtue of being a time caspule to pre gentrified NYC. The plot is secondary to its actual ideas but still coherent and hits home.

The music is brilliant too and and when you add all this up, it gives you something a 100 million studio film would not be able to replicate. Worth watching.

There's a lot of talking about political ideas in here, but not a lot of movie. It's a mash up of short clips of big talk with amateurish acting and stock footage and poorly shot blips. There are some still valid ideas and messages, but it comes across more like a university thesis than anything that you'd want to watch. Important more than watchable.

Presented partially as a faux-documentary, Lizzie Borden's rough-around-the-edges but delightfully feminist 'Born In Flames (1983)' imagines a world in which America has become a so-called socialist democracy, ostensibly free of inequality and capitalist tendencies. However, this apparent utopia is far from as perfect as it may first seem; in fact, it isn't so much socialist as it is stagnant, still set up to cater to white, cishet, upper-class men who can use the concept of progress as a way to hinder any further examples of it. Everyone is considered equal by the government, and anyone advocating for their individual rights (or, indeed, the rights of any oppressed groups) are considered separatist. Yet, a unified front only works if it's always marching towards true equality, rather than stalling in a position of only partial equality and declaring it the best place to be, so it's natural for civil unrest and eventual revolution to rear its head. We can only spend so long being told to be grateful for the sacrifices and advancements made by the previous generation while that same generation washes its hands of responsibility and abandons those it supposedly fought so hard for. Something's got to give. It's interesting that the world this depicts isn't the right-wing dystopia most examples of alternate-future media aim to critique (and, indeed, we find ourselves in today), but is instead a world that's technically more fair and just than the one the film itself was made in. This unusual decision is used to keenly examine the idea that what's currently described as left-wing is often more centre-left, that there's always progress to be made and that we shouldn't rest when only some of the injustices of our society have been faced. The fight is never over, society is never perfect, progress is fluid and it needs to be allowed to evolve; standards must be pushed closer and closer to perfection, we mustn't be allowed to become complacent, "good enough" is never good enough. The flick is excellent at focusing on intersectional feminism, focusing on women of different races, classes and sexualities and showcasing how their different goals eventually align so that they can become a united front. It's also great at showing how unrest eventually boils over into revolution, constantly keeping you on the side of its protagonists even as they take up arms against a society that at first seems peaceful. As a film, it is unruly and amateurish in most of its aspects, and yet its framing device of sometimes being a documentary - or, at the very least, being comprised partially of radio broadcasts, televised news reports, and surveillance footage - allows this unprofessionalism (including what seems to be a mostly improvised screenplay, some slightly wonky acting, generally poor audio, and the occasional mistake such as a notably out-of-focus shot) to work in the affair's favour. After a few minutes (which, to be fair, are disorienting), you really start to believe the world which the piece presents, as well as the way in which it presents it. Even the scenes technically not meant to be documentary-style - as evidenced by their cutting format and the fact that no cameras would be allowed where they take place - feel like they're being captured by an in-universe cameraman, further lending the feature a palpable texture that compounds its excellently holistic and believable word building. Though the narrative is a little unwieldy, it replicates the sometimes necessary messiness of stories found during the process of making a non-fiction film, as well as the inherent disorganised beginnings of revolution and protest. Indeed, the feature replicates the way in which its initially disparate efforts of its various characters and groups eventually come together in unified action, becoming more and more focused as it heads towards its ballsy (and sadly rather prescient) conclusion. It's all just really invigorating, a vital and courageous picture with something to say and a novel way in which to say it. It's essentially a call to action, and it feels increasingly relevant today (frankly, the flawed social democracy it depicts feels much more comfortable than the system in which we currently find ourselves). It's a really good movie, if not for its technical and narrative execution than for its thematic content and underlying message. It's somewhat of a shock to the system, and it left me with a smile on my face due to how unashamed it is in presenting its own political ideology. It's brilliantly progressive, thunderously feminist, and arguably essential.

A 1983 release of a future society where women stage a rebellion against the male dominated world they live in. More of an agitprop distillation of a dramatic 'what if' of a time to come w/the immediacy of a found footage documentary/social message screed, finds women fed up w/the status quo focusing on an outspoken gay, black woman who's a DJ who fills her airwaves w/the vitriol & anger (justified since we see men alternately trying to rape their counterparts or dismiss them from the workplace w/o a justified rationale) spurring a movement (the intended rape is thwarted by a phalanx of 10 speed riding Valkyries blowing whistles). When the DJ is arrested (the powers that be fear her power is becoming uncontrollable) she commits suicide in custody which sets the scene for a guerilla movement (replete w/automatic weapons) culminating in the destruction of the transmission antennas on top of the World Trade Center (eerily foreshadowing the '93 & 9/11 attacks). Yes, the film is rough w/all the odd ends kept in for flavor & texture but it touches on so many totems of protest (the metoo movement, Black Lives Matter, et al) one can forgive the unpolished sheen of the presentation. No big stars to remark about but genre fave, the late, great Ron Vawter shows up as a power broker out to derail the outspoken radio DJ, writer/actor Eric Bogosian has a quick scene as a TV tech & character actor Mark Boone Junior pops up as a perv accosting a woman on a train.

Even almost 20 years after its release, "Born In Flames" retains its sense of urgency and immediacy. This is due both to the energy of the performances, soundtrack and direction and to the fact that most of the women's demands in the film - including equality in the workplace, safety from harrasment and sexual crimes, and equal representation in government - still have not been met.

One of the film's greatest achievements is its representation of the divisions and debates within feminism. The film does not try to offer a single solution or plan of action as a definitive best way forward and so avoids tempting over-simplification of a complex set of issues. Rather than negative or unhelpful, I found this approach incredibly refreshing in a medium rife with happy endings and simple, fictional solutions.

"Born In Flames" doesn't have an answer, but it has many, many questions and many, many voices. These voices and the regular delivery of discourse straight to camera and audience has regularly led to critical disapproval and claims that it is "overly polemical". I don't find "Born in Flames" overly polemical. I don't agree with many of the opinions and strategies given voice and action in the film, but I found the experience of being directly addressed by a female character on issues that are largely invisible in mainstream cinema energising and inspiring. This film won't change the world, but it made me start writing for my fanzine again and get on the phone to my bandmates to get a practice organised. Enough films, debate, writing, and noise, and we'll get somewhere.