Synopsis

M.I.A.'s "Born Free" unfolds as a nine-minute dystopian short film in which armed forces raid a rundown neighborhood and round up red-haired men and boys. The captives are beaten, detained and forced into a barren landscape, where the violence escalates into executions and a deadly minefield escape. Set to the song's abrasive, punk-influenced beat, the film presents persecution through an intentionally absurd premise, using the fictional targeting of redheads to evoke real-world ethnic cleansing and state violence.

Factoids & Trivia

• The treatment was inspired in part by mobile-phone footage documenting extrajudicial killings of Tamil men in Sri Lanka. M.I.A. transformed that real-world imagery into a fictional scenario in an attempt to make distant violence more immediate to a mainstream audience.

• The idea of targeting red-haired people began as a studio joke involving the producer Rusko. M.I.A. developed it into a broader metaphor for people who are singled out and oppressed.

• The video was filmed in Los Angeles and Lancaster, California, on January 15, 2010.

• Several performers playing military personnel were U.S. Army veterans who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• The production used practical gore effects, including fake blood and ketchup imported from China.

• Rather than following a conventional performance-video format, "Born Free" was structured as a short film with a runtime of roughly nine minutes.

• The video's graphic violence led to its temporary removal or blocking on YouTube in the United States and United Kingdom. The controversy quickly became part of its cultural impact, with much of the public discussion focusing on the imagery rather than the song itself.

• "Born Free" was nominated for Best Dance Video at the 2010 UK Music Video Awards.

• In 2011, NME placed the video at number 13 on its list of the greatest music videos ever made.