M.I.A. | Controversial "Born Free" Music Video at Schema : more than ethnic

M.I.A. | Controversial "Born Free" Music Video

It's only been a couple of months since Lady Gaga's controversial 9-minute long music video, Telephone, hit the Internet and overtook everyone's Facebook and Twitter status updates and blog entries, but another music video in the form of a short film has arrived. Now, the internet is buzzing over electro-hip-hop artist M.I.A.'s Born Free video.

Directed by Romain Gavras, the ultra-violent Born Free music video plays more like a post-apocalyptic short film than traditional music videos. In fact, M.I.A. doesn't even make a single appearance during the entire ten minutes of the video, while the actual song plays more like background music.

What really sets this video apart from others, however, is the concept: the US military rounding up red-haired youngsters and killing them seemingly for sport. I cannot speak on behalf of M.I.A. and Romain Gavras as to the exact message, but I certainly can see an allusive reference to the persecution of visible minorities by what appear to be government-sponsored soldiers.

The sheer brutality and unabashedly graphic scenes in the video make it fairly clear that both M.I.A. or Romain Gavras had the intention to spark some controversy and capture everyone's attention. So violent is the music video, in fact, that even Youtube has removed it from its popular video website.

Watch the video and judge for yourself.

WARNING: This video is very disturbing, with many scenes of graphic violence and nudity. Watch at your own discretion.