Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Encyclopedia
Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a critically acclaimed 2007
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

 rockumentary
Rockumentary
The term rockumentary is a neologism denoting a documentary about rock music or its musicians. The term was used by Bill Drake in the 1969 History of Rock & Roll radio broadcast, and by Rob Reiner in the 1984 mockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap....

 film following filmmakers Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi
Suroosh Alvi
Suroosh Alvi is a Pakistani Canadian journalist and film-maker who was among the co-founders of Montreal-based Vice magazine alongside Shane Smith and Gavin McInnes in 1994. As well as being a media critic, Alvi has also worked on creating documentaries about places deemed dangerous in the Middle...

 as they track down the Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i heavy metal band Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda is an Iraqi thrash metal band formed in 2001. It is often credited as being the first heavy metal group to emerge from Iraq. The band consists of three Arab members and one Assyrian . The band formed and played concerts under the regime of Saddam Hussein...

 amidst the Iraq War.

Synopsis

In 2003, the Iraqi heavy-metal band Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda
Acrassicauda is an Iraqi thrash metal band formed in 2001. It is often credited as being the first heavy metal group to emerge from Iraq. The band consists of three Arab members and one Assyrian . The band formed and played concerts under the regime of Saddam Hussein...

 were the subject of a Vice
Vice (magazine)
VICE is a free magazine and media conglomerate founded in Montreal, Quebec and currently based in New York City.Vice is available in 27 countries...

magazine article. With the magazine's help, they were able to stage a sell-out show in 2005 despite the recent ousting of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

. Filmmakers from Vice returned to Iraq in 2006 to track down the band. Upon their return they discovered the multitude of death and destruction, including rehearsing studios destroyed by bombs.

Candid interviews with the band members allows an insight into a sub section of society steeped in American pop culture and the hostilities this attracts.

Production

The film was shot over three years. Filming locations included Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 and Erbil
Arbil
Arbil / Hewlêr is the fourth largest city in Iraq after Baghdad, Basra and Mosul...

 in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Beirut, Lebanon and Damascus, Syria. The film was distributed by VBS.tv, part of the Vice
Vice (magazine)
VICE is a free magazine and media conglomerate founded in Montreal, Quebec and currently based in New York City.Vice is available in 27 countries...

media conglomerate. During the filming it was revealed that the Syrian government did not intend to extend the visas of the band to stay in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

; as a result, the filmmakers campaigned to raise funds to relocate the band in a safer country, rather than return to Iraq. In 2009, the band were resettled in the United States as refugees.

Release

The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
2007 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2007 Toronto International Film Festival was a 32nd annual film festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It ran from September 6, 2007 to September 15, 2007. The lineup consisted of 349 films from 55 countries, selected from 4156 submissions...

 on 8 September 2007. This was followed by a 10 February screening at the Berlin International Film Festival
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

. On 13 March 2008, it was screened at Greece's Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Images of the 21st Century is a film festival specialising in documentary films which takes place every March in Thessaloniki and is affiliated with the International Thessaloniki Film Festival.-History:...

.

It received an official theatrical release in the United States on 23 May 2008 and a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2008.

The film has been screened at several other international film festivals, including Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

's Expresión en Corto International Film Festival
Expresión en Corto International Film Festival
The Guanajuato International Film Festival Expresión en Corto, or GIFF by its initials, is an annual international film festival, held since 1998 during the final week of July in the cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico....

 on 24 July 2008. This was followed by a 21 September 2008 screening at Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

's Helsinki International Film Festival. Further European festival screenings in 2008 took place on 25 September at Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

's Reykjavík International Film Festival
Reykjavík International Film Festival
- The festival :Reykjavík International Film Festival , is an international film festival held in Reykjavík, Iceland annually. The festival lasts 11 days each year and emphasizes young talents...

, 10 October screening at Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

's Ghent International Film Festival and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

's Warsaw International Filmfest on 10 October also.

DVD

The film was released on DVD in the United States on 10 June. The collector's edition includes over 90 minutes of bonus material. This includes a 45-minute featurette, seven additional and deleted scenes (live performances and interviews), an 8-page booklet including the original Vice magazine article "No War For Heavy Metal" as well as a teaser trailer.

Book

A book accompanying the film was released in 2009, titled "Heavy Metal in Baghdad - The Story of Acrassicauda". The book was edited by Andy Capper
Andy Capper
Andrew Richard Capper is a London-based journalist and global editor of Vice Magazine.-Career:Capper has contributed to wide array of fields related to Vice magazine, as well as freelance journalism for The Guardian, Observer and NME.He has also worked with Jonathan Glazer and J Spaceman of...

, editor of Vice magazine in the UK and Europe. The book offers an oral history of the band's journey, made up of extended interviews with key members.

Reception

The film has been generally well-received by critics. It has a tomatometer rating of 81% on film-rating site Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

.

The New York Times praised the film as "An intrepid, unlikely and altogether splendid feat of D.I.Y. reportage...Both a stirring testament to the plight of cultural expression in Baghdad and a striking report on the refugee scene in Syria, this rock-doc like no other electrifies its genre and redefines headbanging as an act of hard-core courage."

The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

described the film as "More than just another Iraq-doc, 'Heavy Metal' is a surprisingly up-close look at the toll of the war on young people, and how they still have dreams and still want to jam, party and get down. If 'Once' was about the romance of creativity, Heavy Metal in Baghdad is about the total, unrelenting obsession. They have no choice. They must rock."

Reporting on film premiering at the 2007 TIFF, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

described the film as "the most powerful music film" of the festival.

The film also garnered favourable reactions from leading British publications such as The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

. The former praised the film in that it "brings home the cultural as well as the human violence meted out to that gorgeous capital more powerfully than many more exalted documentaries...Though they struggle to build a fan base, and end up seeking refuge in Syria, their dreams persist, still blazing fiercely at the close of this chastening and inspiring film." The Guardian described the film as "fascinating".

External links

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