OVID.tv Presents BORN IN FLAMES Film Review – A Portrait of Activism

Posted on by Holly Fontanetta

A woman walks alone down an empty city street...

Two men comb their thick mustaches and adjust their denim vests before approaching her. The conversation begins innocuous – perhaps they are asking for directions – but suspense swells as they get closer and touchier. Suddenly, the men coordinate a concerted assault, wrestling the woman to the dirty, wet ground. She cries out to no avail; she is alone. Then, we hear the faint sound of a whistle. The whistles multiply and become more intense. A fleet of women on bicycles swarm the scene, scaring off the men. They bring the lone woman to her feet and embrace her. Still crying, she grips them tight, embracing their solidarity and her safety.

BORN IN FLAMES
The illicit radio show

Set to female post-punk rock music, Liz Borden’s Born in Flames is more than a fictional documentary film about intersectional feminism; it is a portrait of activism in 1980s New York. The grainy homemade film follows Isabel and Honey, the leaders of two outspoken feminist groups, who operate illicit radio shows to organize riots. The groups focus on community-based action, like the bicycle ambush, and face backlash from the media.

Women Retaliate in OVID.tv’s Born in Flames

A series of shots demonstrates womens’ participation in manual labor: Hands scrub dishes. Hands fill out office paperwork. Hands feed a baby. Hands bag groceries, hands cut hair, hands wrap chicken at a packaging plant. A woman working in construction is handed a pink slip indicating that she has been fired. She asks her employer why none of the men lost their jobs, and he has no reply.

“We have a right to violence. All oppressed people have the right to violence.”

The labor riots that ensue are uplifting and radical. We feel like we are protesting with the group as women march and chant, passing in front of and behind the camera, wearing pins and hardhats, holding megaphones and homemade signs. The scene blisters with palpable rage. These violent sequences are intercut with intimate moments of reflection between small circles of women, including Honey and Isabel, who sit, talk, smoke, organize, argue, and yell. The women question how to unify when people have different approaches working toward a similar cause.

“One lion or five hundred mice?”

In this writer’s opinion, the film makes up for what it lacks in technical aspects and structure with a refreshingly nuanced view of intersectional feminism.

Born in Flames is recommended to those who enjoy independent, experimental filmmaking and radical politics.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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CREATIVE TEAM:

Directed by Lizzie Borden

CAST:

Honey
Adele Bertaei
Jeanne Satterfield
Flo Kennedy
Ron Vawter
Eric Bogosian
To watch the film, visit the OVID.tv page for Born in Flames.

Images courtesy of OVID.tv

Find more top pick Indie Fiction Films— given HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ratings by Picture This Post writers here.

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Holly Fontanetta

About the Author: Holly Fontanetta

Holly Fontanetta is inspired by narratives that capture the idiosyncrasies of human experience. She has driven absurd distances on a whim in search of character, including two road trips from New York to California. Holly spends her free time hanging out with cats (her own or strays - either is fine) and swimming in the ocean (Atlantic or Pacific - either is fine). Her favorite stories to read and write feature women overcoming extraordinary circumstances. Currently, Holly is learning to paint and filling her walls with strange art.

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10 thoughts on “OVID.tv Presents BORN IN FLAMES Film Review – A Portrait of Activism”

  1. Descriptions of the characters work and rebellion construct the pov that the film inspires strong political emotion.

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  2. WOW. I was really blown away by this review, to be completely honest. There was not a speck of language in here that made me surprised by the “highly recommended” rating, and I had such a vivid sense of what the film was about that I was almost lifted and placed INTO the scenes right along with the writer. Not only does the film sound like a terrific portrait of activism in general (especially concerning activism in the eighties), but just based on this review I already want to make time to sit down and view it myself. I think it would be an excellent and compelling watch based on this alone. What a terrific job presenting the POV of someone who sincerely, truly was moved by this film.

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  5. I think this writer captures the experimental nature of this film well. From the shots they describe, like the montage of the hands completing tasks, it allows the readers to feel the pace of the movie. I would imagine the film to jump from scene to scene and to cover a variety of experiences within intersectional feminism. I like the writer’s description of how grainy the shots are, as I think that’s useful information for a reader to know that this is not a polished documentary.

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