Born in Flames
“Born in Flames” is very much a film reflecting on the civil rights movements for African-Americans and women that were prevalent in the culture of the ’60s and ’70s, and yet, it was impressively prescient in the white male backlash that we’re seeing now, and was growing at the time. One sees the sexism and racism in the white male characters in this film, and you can make a beeline to the MAGA movement. And yet, while Lizzie Borden’s film is depressing in how it saw the future, it is an energetic and entertaining piece of filmmaking.
Borden sets her film in a future New York, a decade after a “social-democratic war of liberation,” where women and Black men and women struggled for some sense of equality with white men. And yet, while politicians and newscasters give lip service to equality, the fight is not over. They’ve painted radical groups for change as terrorists, and downplay white male violence towards women. (Sound familiar yet?) Throughout the film, we watch as a group of women continue the fight for equality by any means necessary because they are not being heard otherwise.
This is a film that is considered a work of Afrofuturism, and one can definitely see the commonalities between it and other films that I’ve reviewed in the genre. It very much falls into the subgenre of dystopian science fiction, as well, even though everything about it screams 1980s New York. While “Born in Flames” doesn’t have the production design of a “Blade Runner” or “The Matrix,” what it does accomplish is putting us in an anxious state about the world we’re watching unfold. This is where a low-budget approach fits beautifully into the world Borden is creating. Sometimes, the best effects are the ones limitations in resources inspire a filmmaker to create.
A few characters standout- a radio personality named Honey (played by Honey); one of the leaders, Isabel (played by Adele Bertei), and Zella Whlie (a big picture representation of the movement’s leadership, played by Florynce Kennedy). We also get Adalaide Norris (Jean Satterfield), who is labeled a domestic terrorist, arrested when they come into the city, and dies in prison in an apparent “suicide.” Nothing about her death feels like it was of her own hand, and it sparks the actions of the third act in the film, which includes an act against a New York staple that might be difficult to witness now, but also looks at how spectacle is sometimes needed for rebellion to get its point across. “Born in Flames” has a lot of ideas, and narrative, for its 80 minute run time, and we are captivated every step of the way.
