magrebi Blog

Under discussion:

Heavy Metal in Baghdad  (2007)

I wish I could remember the names of the guys that make up Acrassicauda, given that I'm somewhat horrible with names I'm not even going to try. Eddy Moretti (got that name right) the director, sets out to make a documentary about a metal group in Baghdad, and in doing so he does a great job of showing the viewer the passion that these men have to play their music to the backdrop of complete chaos and devastating violence. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Metal music in a war zone? Fitting. To some degree these guys are more legit than Slipknot or Slayer (yes, I said it). Not that you need an excuse to play your music, but after watching this film it almost make me feel guilty for making excuses for my "hard" or "complicated" life and it makes me wonder about the legitimacy of Slipknot screaming about some girl or satan or whatever they sing about these days.

I really liked this film because the unique story Moretti tells, but what really drew me in was that it put a face on the Iraq war. Unlike many Iraq documentaries before and after, it doesn't set out to make a political point albeit Moretti has one. But his political bias is not the focus of the film which makes his work shine. I can't even count the amount of docu films that are just so blatantly bias and are marketed as fact, when it is quite evident that it is not. I understand that when someone is telling a story it is impossible to get away from the story tellers bias no matter how hard she/he tries to keep bias out of it. But I believe that we've come to deposit too much stock in these stories (thank you Michael Moore) and take them at face value without too much questioning. Anyway, enough of that... Moretti does a good job trying to focus on the band and their perspective of what is happening to them and their country without interjecting his own conclusions too much.


For me the most poignant part of the film was the last couple of frames. The band members sit down to watch a rough cut of the footage that Moretti has already spliced together. After the scene in which the band's practice spot is shown to be bombed out, one of the band members emotionally breaks before our eyes, and lets out: "This is the time you [while pointing at the camera] change the fucking channel or turn off the tv. How dare you! this is the time where you cannot be bothered with this... Pigs."

I don't know if he was talking to Moretti, which I don't think he was. But I took it that he was speaking directly to me, the people watching the film, the American's watching the news broadcast on the Tele that turn it off when they hear of the latest car bomb going off. I didn't sense animosity directed at America from the band, but a severe sense of frustration about the situation that Iraq was/is going through. Which in turn forces me to think about what my country has done in the last five years. With that said, I believe it is a problem- whenever I watch these kind of movies, the people I'm around start squawking  about how unjust the war is, why we went there in the first place... blah blah blah. Singing to the choir and everyone feels good about themselves because they "understand" Iraq. Perhaps it aliviates guilt. **** that. What is done is done. Nothing is really served by revisiting that now, and from what I gather from these band members that isn't what they want either. Rather, from those last couple of frames, they are wanting America to take responsibility for what has happened and not walk away now that the damage is done. Don't turn the TV off when Iraq is in the news. I guess that what happens when you put a face to a war that no one understands, at the risk of sounding preachy, but I feel a huge sense of responsibility and respect towards the Iraqi people... With the election season in full swing it is hard for me to think what these band members think when they hear the calls from Americans to get out as soon as possible or on the flip side staying for 100 years. Oh wait... this is boring, let's change the channel.

Under discussion:

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired  (2008)

I think it is hard to go back and look at the events around the Polanski rape case objectively, obviously that didn't happen during the trial nor since then.

I have to say that I didn't know much about Polanski besides watching a few of his films. I didn't know anything about his past, nothing about his childhood during WWII, the death of his wife, the sexual fiasco he had with a 13 year old, nor the subsequent sham of the trial he had to go through. With that said I think the guy is a fantastic director and has a tremendous ability to tell stories. However, this film set out to explain what happened during the trial of Polanski for "sex with a minor"... and succeeded to tell one of the most manipulative stories I have ever heard/seen. Let me explain:

Before the film really gets into the trial the moviemaker of this documentary decides to show the audience Polanski's background--the most unfortunate parts of it. We learn that Roman survives the holocaust however his parents do not, we learn of how much he loved his wife Sharon and then how she was brutally murdered by the Manson family. We also learn that Polanski was vulnerable and, I believe someone in the film used the word, "not-stable" to describe Polanski in relationships before he met his wife or after her death. These are very tragic events and circumstances... but what do they have to do with the trial? What purpose does this information serve especially when you frame the film with these circumstances? You are supposed to feel horrible for Polanski; the filmmaker forces the audience to empathize with this man before the trial is even presented.

Once you are buttered up the trial begins. And yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt Polanski was not treated fairly in court. The judge was the bad guy- certainly lacking integrity and clearly pursuing his own purposes and not justice. This merely reinforces the view of Polanski in the audience's mind, a deserving and talented man unjustly treated by the media and the judicial system and life in general. I felt like jumping out of my seat and writing my congressman for judicial reform and while he was at it give Polanski the honorary keys to L.A.

But hold on a second. Polanski had sex with a 13 year old girl after he drugged her and gave her alcohol... and they were quibbling over if Polanski should spend 90 days in a prison mental hospital! How many years would I get in prison if I had done this? I would be locked away for a long long time.

I was talking to some friends about how "cooperative" Polanski was throughout the whole process and how impressive and honest that was... well yeah! I would have been honest too if I had done that and I knew that the worst I could get was probation or 90 days in a mental ward.

The film concludes with Polanski flying to France never to return, when he hears that the psycho fame crazed judge wanted to deport him only after Polanski finished out the duration of his 90 day sentence in the mental institution. Once in France he is hailed as a hero and is given honorary memberships to some fancy French institution. Filmmaker’s conclusion: Polanski went through hell and came out a hero but is unjustly wanted in the U.S.

This film ignores the crime that the brilliant director committed. Frames the story around how tragic his life has been up until this point and how resilient he has been, never mind that he brought the trial on himself- but we are made to feel as though he didn't deserve it. I do concede that the judge botched the trial and was quite horrible… but that only excuses so much.

There's a bunch more in this film that could be addressed like the media, America's obsession/condition with celebrity, our judicial system... I would love to see someone else's opinion on these issues in the film.

Under discussion:

The Island at the Top of the World  (1974)

you know those movies that you grow up on? this is one of them for me... actually this is THE one for me. I can remember about ten movies while growing up that were always in the VHS player (yes VHS player). However, Island at the Top of the World is by far the best. They don't make them like this anymore, that's for sure.