Born In Flames (1983) A film by Lizzie Borden from First Run Films DVD 2006



run time 80 mins



IMDb tt0085267/



The cast is in the credit roll.  



The bands heard are: The Bloods, Ibis, The Red Crayola



Summary

   

"A futuristic fable of feminist turmoil still brewing ten years after the Second American Revolution. When Adelaide Norris, the black radical founder of the Woman's Army, is mysteriously killed, a diverse coalition of women - across all lines of race, class, and sexual preference - emerges to blow the System apart. With their fury growing and all peaceful options exhausted, women overcome divisions of race, class, and sexual orientation to form a guerilla movement to take over control of the media."



My notes



  This film has previously circulated  as a torrent on a site which I used but is not very well known.  It has since lapsed from all but one tracker and I have brought it back as a new torrent from the DVD.



  "Born In Flames" appeared as a torrent during the beginning of the Occupy Movement which I do not feel was coincidental.  While this is not a "Wild In The Streets" (Robert Thom, writer 1968) depiction of what a youth takeover would look like, Lizzie Borden places the action after the takeover.  This is a film made in the 1980's with 1980's tools and it is a highly independent. It's an 80's show so think radio as surviving after the Lizzie Borden Second  Revolution.  Made from the DVD originally as AVI the quality was 80's-style transfered most likely from a VHS.



   The use of radio (as on the poster image) is particularly telling for me.  Radio is the most democratic medium and remains so today in spite of handheld devices.  Everybody has radio.  And in developing countries or radical societies, control of the radio  -- the free airwaves  -- means that the message is not restricted to expensive tools.  But this is hardly the main subject of the film.  It is, however an important detail as the medium selected for Lizzie Borden's portrayal of the future. Even though IMDb lists it as a comedy drama I don't think it was intended as humor or sarcasm.  To paraphrase Occupy: this is what independent film looks like.  It's a piece of history.



   Original torrent seeded June 11 2012



Reseeded October 8, 2014



 New MKV torrent March 12th, 2020