Born in Flames

A socialist revolution has taken place in America and ten years have passed. The new order claims equality, but nothing has changed for women: the wages are low, the streets are not safe and complaints are not taken seriously. Different groups organise separately. A group called the Women's Army patrols the streets. Two pirate radio stations broadcast. The state is watching them. Then an organiser dies in custody and the groups have to come together. Lizzie Borden writes and directs. The film was shot over about five years on sixteen millimetre for very little money. Most of the cast are not professionals and many come from her own circle; some of the dialogue is improvised. Its importance lies in how it treats its subject. The narrative does not construct a single women's movement; it shows the disagreements among black women, white women, lesbians and socialists directly and does not present those divisions as resolved. The form imitates documentary: news footage, radio broadcasts and street interviews are mixed with the fiction. Kathryn Bigelow, not yet a director, appears as a member of a newspaper's editorial board. It circulated narrowly for a long time and was later reassessed as one of the key works of independent cinema. Who it is for: anyone interested in political independent film and the New York underground of the eighties. Who it is not for: the technical quality is rough, the structure is scattered, and the narrative offers no plot.