Jason Chu

Heavy Metal in Baghdad (Director: Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi, USA, 2007): Documenting the band Acrassicauda in Heavy Metal in Baghdad was a “risky, dan­gerous, and really fucking stupid” under­taking, according to journ­alist Suroosh Alvi, and those words are cer­tainly descriptive enough for this film. I was expecting a rel­at­ively light-hearted, fun and even novel doc­u­mentary on the only heavy metal band in Baghdad. And yes, there are more than a few “light” moments, but this is a sober and emo­tional blow to the head of the reality of what is hap­pening in Iraq as seen through the eyes of people just like me: reg­ular, working class guys who are also pas­sionate about music. And it’s nothing like you’ve ever seen on the news.

The film­makers’ involve­ment with Acrassicauda began in 2003, when VICE Magazine ran a short piece on them. What fol­lowed was a gig set up by VICE two years later, which marked the band’s final per­form­ance in Baghdad. After that gig, the band mem­bers weren’t heard from again, until a year later when Alvi and Moretti traveled to Baghdad to “see if they were still alive”. This is where the film takes a turn from an already atyp­ical band bio to a “meeting the band” that you have never exper­i­enced before (thank­fully without the air­plane nose­dive). Firas, the band’s bassist, plays tour guide for a few days as Alvi and Moretti doc­u­ment both a country and a band that war has torn apart. What fol­lows is a journey through the streets of Iraq, with bul­let­proof SUVs and a slew of armed body­guards as company.

As they talk, we learn a lot about these men — about their fears, hopes and dreams. They want to have fam­ilies. They want to wear their Metallica and Slipknot t-shirts, grow their hair long and have goatees, but any of these things could get them shot, even if they are walking out­side before the 9pm curfew. They want to head­bang without the fear of being mis­taken as Jews in prayer, and killed. They want to flee Baghdad and live in freedom, but they don’t want to leave their fam­ilies behind or be ali­en­ated else­where. They want to, as the band’s friend Mike puts it, “fly and be free.” But most of all, they want to rock — but how can you do that in a country with a gov­ern­ment legis­lature ban­ning “music-filled parties and all kinds of singing”?

With titles like “Massacre,” “Between The Ashes” and “Under World,” Acrassicauda’s songs seem to be typ­ical of many a metal band’s; the sad truth, how­ever, is that these titles are com­pletely lit­eral, and their lyrics describe the reality of their world. After seeing things through the eyes of these men (both the film­makers and the band mem­bers), who are really not so unlike me and my friends, I feel much closer to under­standing what is really going on over there. I am a music lover, and this angle (for lack of a better word) was extremely effective and emo­tion­ally stir­ring. Watching this film was a very sobering exper­i­ence, and it will surely stick with me for a long time.

Official Site (with trailer)

NOTE: I saw this film at a pre-festival press screening at Bovine Sex Club.

UPDATE 9/21/07: The band mem­bers are in danger of being deported from their tem­porary safe haven in Syria. Click here to donate to help them reach a safe destination.

Tagged as: Documentaries, iraq, music, TIFF

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