In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter talking with a number of individuals about the 30th anniversary of Do the Right Thing, editor Barry Alexander Brown noted how, in the summer of 2014, he and Spike Lee had cut together a short film that cut between footage of Eric Garner being killed by police officers and footage from Do The Right Thing showing Radio Raheem also being killed by cops. Watching how reality had echoed a movie released 25 years prior, Brown noted "It's like this shit is still happening". Born in Flames, a 1983 directorial effort from Lizzie Borden, is similarly a film from the 1980s that only feels all the more relevant in the modern-day world as a tale of women of color trying to make sure their voices are heard in a society that will do anything to crush them.
Borden's script takes place in the near future that depicts American society as having been transformed into a socialist state. Though does higher-ups of this country claim that they have made a utopia, many marginalized communities, especially people of color and/or members of the LGBTQA+ community claim otherwise. With their struggles to get jobs because of their skin color or sexual orientation, as well as rampant instances of women being sexually assaulted in the streets (to name just a few of the problems in this seemingly perfect domain), groups of women begin to start an underground group dedicated to revolting against a broken system. The story focuses on an ensemble cast but one of the most prominent individuals in the story is Adelaide Norris (Jean Satterfield), an activist who ends up becoming a larger symbol for the revolution.
Born in Flames hops across numerous perspectives during its runtime and this leads to a variety of types of filmmaking styles that crop up throughout the plot. Born in Flames constantly adjusts its storytelling method to suit the tone of individual scenes as well as provide chances for a very specific kind of social commentary. For instance, sometimes the story is told through a projector slideshow being held by members of the C.I.A. as they and the viewer discover the identities of the various women trying to take down the corrupt government. Here, we see Born in Flames commenting on how America's own intelligent forces, even in a new society meant to be idyllic, still continue to find the very presence of marginalized communities taking control of their lives a domestic threat. The more things change...
Other times, the story is guided through excerpts from fictional TV broadcasts covering major revolts or events in-universe as a way of showing how media outlets are used to demonize people trying to instill change in society. Dark humor crops up through these segments through the tidy line deliveries of the news anchors talking about such dark material that feel akin to the reality show parodies of RoboCop, with both serving as depictions of the various ways media outlets can try and help viewers distracted from not questioning the status quo. And then there are plenty of instances where Born in Flames operates like a traditional film with the camera just capturing characters in the middle of their lives.
Such scenes, with their frequent use of raw audio captured on the set rather than through a boom mic or ADR, reflect the scrappy low-budget nature of the project but that nature tends to work in favor of the project. After all, the revolutionary characters in Born in Flames aren't using polished equipment when broadcasting their underground radio stations or engaging in public protests. Though a product of being a scrappy indie film, the more ramshackle nature of Born in Flames ends up making it feel like raw documentary footage that you can't believe somebody managed to capture. The production's low-budget aesthetic ends up being a boon to the sense of urgency and rawness found in the ambiance of the production and especially in the individual plight of its characters.
Borden's directing style also adds to the raw nature of Born in Flames, particularly in her tendency to have the camera linger on extended debates and conversations between assorted characters. Thorugh these extended single-takes, one gets an in-depth glimpse at the individual (and sometimes conflicting) perspectives between the characters. It's also a recurring visual tic of Born in Flames that sees Borden, both in her direction and her writing of the dialogue, emphasizing the humanity of its assorted characters, a trait that the evil form of the American government wishes to extinguish by any means. Considering that this past week the President of the United States has engaged in daily racist attacks against four Congresswomen of color, Lizzie Borden's story in Born in Flames of women of color fighting for their right to exist against powerful American government forces feels like it was ripped straight out of 2019 rather than 1983. In the words of Barry Alexander Brown: "It's like this shit is still happening"
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