Heavy Metal in Baghdad (2007)

83% of critics liked it
(23 reviews)
83% of users liked it
(896 ratings)

VICE Magazine co-founder Suroosh Alvi and VICE Films head Eddy Moretti embark on a gonzo journey to meet Iraq's only heavy metal band in a freewheeling documentary focusing on youth culture in war-torn Iraq. In the summer of 2005, shortly after Saddam Hussein's brutal rule came to an end, Iraqi… More VICE Magazine co-founder Suroosh Alvi and VICE Films head Eddy Moretti embark on a gonzo journey to meet Iraq's only heavy metal band in a freewheeling documentary focusing on youth culture in war-torn Iraq. In the summer of 2005, shortly after Saddam Hussein's brutal rule came to an end, Iraqi heavy metal group Acrassicauda (named after an especially venomous breed of black scorpion) teamed with VICE Magazine to stage a sold out rock concert. Over a year later, VICE co-founder Alvi and filmmaker Moretti travel back to the Middle Eastern country to find out how the war has affected the band. What they find upon arriving for their reunion with Acrassicauda is especially disturbing. These are the images that the network news refuses to run - the story of an entire generation who risk their lives simply by standing in the open, and who are driven from their homeland by bombs and machinegun fire. In order to even practice, the band would have to risk their lives by exposing themselves to both Iraqi snipers and suspicious coalition forces. Then again, after your studio has been bombed into the ground what's the point in rehearsing anyway? ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 32 min.
Directed By: Suroosh Alvi, Eddy Moretti
Genres: Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest

In Theaters: May 23, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jun 10, 2008
Studio: Arts Alliance

Critic Reviews

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
The low-budget movie's technical qualities aren't always the best, but considering the conditions under which the filmmakers worked, it's amazing that Heavy Metal in Baghdad was made at all.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
The dangers these musicians experience every single day are bound to impact any audience. This is what it really looks like to bang your head against the wall.
Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
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.
Nathan Lee, New York Times
An intrepid, unlikely and altogether splendid feat of D.I.Y. reportage.
Jim Ridley, Village Voice
The movie reclaims metal's appeal to the powerless as well as its threat--when you can get shot for wearing a Slipknot T-shirt (talk about "Death, be not proud")... raising those devil horns isn't an empty act of aggression.
Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Pic's chief drawback is onscreen narrator Suroosh Alvi (co-helming with Eddy Moretti), whose fratboy glee at their 'crazy mission' segues to such probing questions as, 'What's the vibe now?'
Don Groves, sbs.com.au
Doc on Baghdad's only heavy metal band provides fascinating insights into war-torn country.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Gives us a rough idea of how bloody awful it is to be living in Baghdad.
Charlotte O'Sullivan, This is London
It feels like a spoof, yet this documentary, which follows the fortunes of a monumentally rubbish Iraqi band called Acrassicauda, is for real.
, Sun Online
And so this low-budget film says more about Gulf War II than all of Hollywood's efforts put together.
Rob Daniel, Sky Movies
Watching the disintegration of Baghdad alongside the band members' aspirations makes this an enlightening and impassioned account of the Middle Eastern crisis.
Chris Tilly, IGN Movies UK
Heavy Metal in Baghdad is one of those sneaky documentaries that starts out a light-hearted look at a semi-serious subject, and then suddenly turns into something far more moving and profound.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
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.
Xan Brooks, Guardian [UK]
This ill-starred four-piece are the heroes of a flawed, fascinating documentary, shot on digital video by two excitable gonzo-esque journalists from Vice magazine.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
You mourn the wasted opportunities to explore a culture in which the ultimate rebellion is to copy America's corporate rock.
Jon Fortgang, Film4
Sprawling and unfocussed but still a fascinating window onto an unreported world.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
The guerrilla-movie-making ethic of the directors is reflected in the band members, who sport goatees and speak excellent, hipster/metalhead-inflected American English.
, Empire Magazine
The film's at its strongest when Moretti and Alvi make it to Baghdad, but it suffers from a focusing too much on the music and not enough on the band's circumstances.
Louis Proyect, rec.arts.movies.reviews
Excellent documentary about the struggle of a heavy metal band to survive in Iraq.
Chris Barsanti, Filmcritic.com
frustrating but nearly impossible to forget

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

El Hombre I

Acrassicauda means 'black scorpion' in latin. It's also the name of the only heavy metal band in Iraq. Needless to say, heavy metal is frowned upon by the fundamentalist authorities, who see their music as a form of Western propaganda. The journey of filmmakers finding… More
Acrassicauda means 'black scorpion' in latin. It's also the name of the only heavy metal band in Iraq. Needless to say, heavy metal is frowned upon by the fundamentalist authorities, who see their music as a form of Western propaganda. The journey of filmmakers finding this controversial band allows the audience a very unique point of view into the Iraq War. The film is about the effect of the war on the ordinary working people of Iraq. People like you and I who might want to play the music they like, and raise families. They might not be the most talented metal band in the world, but unlike some American musicians who like to boast about how they'd "die for metal", this is one band that looks everyone dead in the eye and means it, and for that, they immediately earn the respect of the entire metal community, not to mention casual viewers worldwide. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&current=HeavyMetal.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/HeavyMetal.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
rocko p

The daily struggles these guys go through to conquer even the simplest of tasks is incomprehinsible.
Jason R

Fantastic! This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Heavy Metal in Baghdad tells the story of Acrassicauda, a metal band from Iraq, whose members are stuck in the middle of Baghdad and the Civil War that is ripping the country apart. Through all the danger, pain, and… More
Fantastic! This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen. Heavy Metal in Baghdad tells the story of Acrassicauda, a metal band from Iraq, whose members are stuck in the middle of Baghdad and the Civil War that is ripping the country apart. Through all the danger, pain, and death these guys take there love of Metal, and use it to vent their frustrations about everything going on in their lives. The film offers a very personal, and gut-wrenching look into the plight of the Iraqi as their country has become, Hell on Earth, and even when they do escape Iraq. They are treated like lepers by the world, because they are Iraqi's. This is not only Metal in its purest form, but it is human existence in its purest form. Barely getting by, and unsure of their futures, a group of Iraqi's with a common interest. Try to survive in a world that makes it increasingly harder and harder to live their lives, how they want. YOU GOTTA SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

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Heavy Metal in Baghdad (2007)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

El Hombre I

rocko p

Jason R

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