No team in sport has exerted such a thrilling grip over its opponents as the West Indies Test side did between 1976 and 1984.

Their rise to dominance united the fractured islands as never before. This absorbing documentary, using interviews and contemporary footage, sets their ascendancy within the wider context of black consciousness and the emancipation from colonial rule. In 1975 a young West Indian team had been humiliatingly beaten by Australia, roughed up by the twin pace attack of Thomson and Lillee. The following year, inflamed by Tony Greig's calamitous vow to "make them grovel", the Windies destroyed England with their own ferocious quicks, Holding and Roberts, and the whirlwind batting of Viv Richards and Gordon Greenidge (this last the most likeable and down-to-earth of the interviewees). Stevan Riley's film is an exuberant reminder of all that was great about the side, and offers unexpected insight into the symbolic nature of their victory over England: Richards likens his bat to "a sword" with which he righteously slew their one-time masters. Music by Bob Marley and commentary by Bunny Wailer further enliven the mood.