TIFF Reviews
Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti
(84’, Canada/USA)
****
Improbably moving, this first feature documentary from the hipster Vice empire is about much more than its title suggests. Yes, it’s about the only metal band in Iraq, a quintet of ambitious, foul-mouthed 20-somethings called Acrassicauda, who learned English from contraband Metallica and Slipknot albums. But it’s also about how thoroughly the war has destroyed the lives of average Iraqis, the overwhelming majority of whom want just a modicum of peace and freedom. At great peril, Suroosh Alvi, Vice magazine co-founder and the film’s co-director, travels deep into Baghdad and Damascus (where the band members eventually become refugees) to observe how these young men struggle to live lives taken for granted by millions of North American headbangers. Marred only by its occasional self-aggrandizement, the film is a refreshing, compassionate and stirring wake-up call—with a killer soundtrack. (JM)
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