LET THE FIRE BURN

How often do police drop a bomb on a residential building in order to evict its tenants? That’s what happened in Philadelphia on May 13, 1985, as the culmination of that city’s long-running feud with the controversial radical urban group, MOVE. The bomb set off a fire, and as men, women and children fled the building, a spectacular firefight with the police ensued — broadcast on live TV. LET THE FIRE BURN grippingly retraces the story using footage of investigative public hearings convened five months after these events, films by MOVE sympathizers (including those of its charismatic leader, John Africa), and dramatic depositions by survivors. Police malfeasance fueled by racism? Or reckless overreaction to bizarre provocations that had MOVE’s neighbors clamoring for their removal?

USA • 2013 • 95 MINS. •  ZEITGEIST FILMS

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“A superior example of the found-footage documentary. (Combines) the death-trip of a SENNA with the radical history of BLACK POWER MIXTAPE.”
– Nicolas Rapold, Film Comment