The premise behind the documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad was to follow the career of the band Acrassicauda, an Iraqi heavy metal band who simply wants to make music. Instead, the picture that emerges is the harshness of life in post-Saddam Iraq, and the desperation of a people who are suffering at the hands of war and destruction. Here is the trailer:
Those of you who know me, know that I am not all that into heavy metal. Sure, in my youth I enjoyed Metallica quite a bit. But these days, those songs are nothing more than nostalgia for me. That being said, this is a riveting documentary that follows the lives of a band who are the only heavy metal band in Iraq. What comes from the documentary is the despair that they all feel, and the importance of their music as an outlet…not only for them, but also for their fans. Sometimes comical, other times devastating, the film shows the reality of what life is like on the ground in Iraq.
What stood out the most for me is that the image the band paints is so different from that which we see in our own media. For the band, life is horrendous. Even though two of the members live only 15 minutes from each other, because of the violence they don’t see each other for months at a time. One member even goes so far as to say that the conflict between the Shi’ites and Sunnis is manufactured by the politicians (he and his wife each being of the different Islamic faiths). All these guys want to do is rock, and everywhere they turn they aren’t allowed to.
The film is out on DVD, so go check it out. Even if you aren’t that into music you will be able to appreciate it!
No comments:
Post a Comment