Decade of Fire

Bronx kid surrounded by devastation

Decade of Fire is a mix of the dispassionate investigative documentary and the more personalised Who Do You Think You Are? style of “one person’s journey into the archive”. It works, not always and not entirely, but it works. Vivian Vazquez is our guide into the history of the South Bronx and the epidemic of fires it experienced, which accompanied and accelerated its shift from buzzy inner-city neighbourhood to burnt-out no-go ghetto. The Bronx became a shorthand for urban decay. The official view has always been that the fires were set by the residents, who seemed engaged in some personal and collective death wish. But who burns down their own house? Vazquez, who … Read more