Review Still in Progress...        

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Often the people who write and research urban public policy speak only in terms of laws, bills, proposals, and movements. They tend to ignore the long term emotional and psychological impacts of these things on the people, both as collective neighborhoods and as individual citizens, on the communities the examine. Similarly, people who write about the urban experiences of their own personal memoirs or narratives of individuals and families often leave out the historical, economic, and political forces which cause, shape, and exacerbate their personal experiences.

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Bronx-born Vivian Vázquez Irizarry, in her role as the film’s central character and co-director, offers a great mix of complex public policy explanations, political forces, and compelling personal narratives. This first-time director wonderfully personalizes the devastating effects of urban public policies in America over the last 50 years on individuals and communities living in the South Bronx. Most of the documentary focuses on the post-war years through the 1970's and 80's. The film illustrates how the plight of this neighborhood has wrongly been placed on the perceived individual actions  of its residents rather than the impact of policies, policymakers, political actors, and economic forces upon their lives. Vazquez show the guilt and personal blame which most of the residents felt due to ill-informed and racially tinged media messaging about the causes of the neighborhood's poverty, crime, and deterioration epitomized by the rampant arson fires over the decades.

 

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Official Site: https://www.decadeoffire.com
On Twitter: decadeoffire
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DecadeofFire
Director: Vivian Vázquez Irizarry & Gretchen Hildebran
Executive Producer: Sally Jo Fifer 
Producer: Julia Steele Allen, Neyda Martinez

Consulting Producer: Yoruba Richen
Cinematographer: Eddie Martinez
Editor: Gretchen Hildebran, Sonia Gonzalez Martinez & Penelope Falk 

Graphic Designer: David Tecson
Music: Arturo Ortiz
Running Time: 72 mins
Language: English, Spanish
Country: USA
Year: 2018

          

Michael Jackson is a political & public policy analyst, political researcher, & freelance writer/editor living in New York City. He holds a B.A. in political science with a concentration in American Politics & Urban Studies from California State University, East Bay and was formerly graduate fellow at the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences' Ph.D program