Born of Fire

1987

Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror / Sci-Fi

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 67% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 67% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 6.0/10 10 809 809

musician flute genie

Plot summary

For reasons unknown, a flautist and an astronomer find themselves drawn to one another. But, when the flautist stumbles upon a secret regarding his late father, the two wind up in a celestial duel against the ancient Master Flautist for earth's future.

Director

Jamil Dehlavi Photo
Jamil Dehlavi

Top cast

Morris Perry Photo
Morris Perry as The Director
Jean Ainslie Photo
Jean Ainslie as Mother
Suzan Crowley Photo
Suzan Crowley as The Woman
Peter Firth Photo
Peter Firth as Paul Bergson
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
691.56 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds ...
1.32 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 24 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by admiral-4

A beautifully filmed surrealist journey into arabic mythology

Unusual and violent activity is observed on the surface of the sun during an eclipse. A dormant volcano erupts in Turkey. A musician (Peter Firth) is haunted by a strange melody. These are the starting points of what turns out to be a surrealist journey into arabic mythology.After meeting an astronomer (Suzan Crowley) who observed the strange activity on the sun, Firth visits his mother on her deathbed. She tells him of the Master Musician, a mysterious being living in Turkey, where his father, also a musician, died a long time ago.Firth takes off for Turkey, to face the demons of his father's past and find this mythical Master Musician. His trip takes us deep into the heart of arabic mythology, into a world inhabited by Djinns and Shaytans, respectively born of Air and Fire. He will learn many things about his father's life that will bring him to the brink of insanity.Directed by Jamil Dehlavi and filmed on location in Turkey, the cinematography of this film is so gorgeous you could watch it with the sound off. The plot isn't so important as the powerful symbology of the imagery (for example, the eclipse is represented by a skull covering the sun). It must be said that the director does very little to explain the many references to the mythology. But this isn't a weakness as it sent me on my own quest to find out more about it.Not for the impatient viewer looking for a cheap thrill, but definitely recommended for the serious viewer seeking a heightened adventure into the surreal.
Reviewed by samxxxul 7 / 10

Surreal on the surface, with minor hiccups!

After doing a review for my favorite "Towers of Silence", I knew that I would write one for "Born of Fire", and I might continue to write for his titles released before Jinnah (1998). In this, we are dealing with Djinns, Iblis and Cosmology rooted in Islamic mythology. All of these elements have their place in Jamil Dehlavi's atmospheric outing funded by Channel 4.The film, dressed in the guise of horror and Islam - but I'm not satisfied with the classification, I could perhaps consider this as a surreal Islamic fantasy drama. From the very opening shot, which ranks as one of the best intros, the movie gives its viewers a taste of what's to come. The story focuses on a female astronomer (Susan Crowley) and a flautist Paul Bergson (Peter Firth) who have identical visions, they foresee a fiery apocalypse. Now, they must confront the Master Musician who killed flautist's father to ward off the disaster with the help of the local priest Bilal (Stefan Kalifa). As the location for the 2nd half of the film, Dehlavi chooses Turkey as the setting, and soon it develops into a multi-layered narrative network with the dominant themes and is a visual trip from the first to the last second especially in the musical duel sequences.The biggest problem with the film is the screenplay and the dialogues, it seems too close to fit in to the genre and lacks some of the genius writing that was present in Dehlavi's early films.Do not expect a classic spoon-feeding tale of evil vs good, it is surely an absorbing experience that mixes various feelings, it is ambitious and somewhat confusing, and some will find it a tedious chore watching the film. Regardless, it depends on the treatment of the symbolism since the images speak for themselves. I'd recommend this to the fans of Sara Driver, Rafael Corkidi, Sergei Parajanov, Fernando Arrabal, Mario Bava, David Lynch, Tadeusz Konwicki, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jean-Pierre Mocky, Wojciech Has, Jean Rollin, Harry Kumel, Ken Russell, Miklos Jancso and Hans W. Geissendorfer.
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