Change Your Image
maddynicholls
Reviews
Fire in Babylon (2010)
New heroes for an Australian
I'm no longer a cricket fan but my childhood memories of cricket in the 70's and 80's was that we were excited to have such great competitors come to play in Australia. They were great athletes and thrilling to watch.
This film tells the other side of the story - the systemic racial hatred aimed at them in the 1970's and 80's from UK, Australia and South Africa. Stevan Riley is English so he makes it look like it was mostly Australian and South African racism - but even India refused to play them at one stage.
They managed to rise above it and their achievements make them statesmen for the game. Their recollections are for the team achievements not the individual performances (and there is plenty to admire on both levels). Their impact went beyond sport. Viv Richards and his Four Men of the Apocalypse are my new heroes. They don't seem to make them like that anymore.
On a lightweight note, these men are aging wonderfully. I bet Lillee, Thomo etc don't look anywhere near as good these days.
Waste Land (2010)
Watch as the people and landscape transform
I loved this film for its beauty.
Waste Land helped build my understanding and appreciation of modern art from almost zero aside from MIT's Walter Lewin lecture on Modern Art - who is adamant that modern art is supposed to be "ugly" and change the way one looks at things. Vic Muniz, the artist in the film takes this further by explaining how to look at art: stand back to get the idea, get closer to look at the materials and detail the artist uses.
Vic uses the same technique to get to know the landscape and the subjects of his film first looking at them from aerial photos/plane and then on the ground. Astonishing how this transforms the subjects and landscape from a rubbish tip to beautiful and inspiring people and works of art. His subjects were totally in tune and connected with their environment in the landfill.
By the end of the film even Vic's wonderful, tasteful, designer home in NY looked like a slightly more orderly version of his subject's favelas.