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Heavy Metal in Baghdad
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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, All Movie Guide
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KarinaKarina Blogging Berlin 02/14/08
by Karina in Karina on SpoutBlog
hasn't rated it.
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"Jurgen Fauth has nothing but praise for Heavy Metal in Baghdad (we felt pretty much the same when we saw it in Toronto), the screening of which, Jurgen says, “was so oversold that I ended up in the front row, effectively watching a distorted fun house mirror version of Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti’s documentary.” “Most of the European critics came down pretty hard on Petri Kotwica’s Black Ice, a film in competition from Finland,” notes Filmbrain, “But I found this deliciously dark drama about dangerous deceptions to be a good bit of trashy fun.” Mr. Grant is far less enthusiastic about In Love We Trust and Just Anybody. Daniel Kasman is not entirely sold on Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, but he concedes “Maddin???s humor comes through perhaps stronger in this film than any other (he narrates himself, with dialog by regular collaborator George Toles), pushing an obsessive, if not repetitive, theme of the life of a city and the life of a boy being an inescapable series of traumatic, almo ... " [More]
SpoutBlogSpoutBlog Blogging Berlin 02/14/08
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Jurgen Fauth has nothing but praise for Heavy Metal in Baghdad (we felt pretty much the same when we saw it in Toronto), the screening of which, Jurgen says, “was so oversold that I ended up in the front row, effectively watching a distorted fun house mirror version of Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti’s documentary.” “Most of the European critics came down pretty hard on Petri Kotwica’s Black Ice, a film in competition from Finland,” notes Filmbrain, “But I found this deliciously dark drama about dangerous deceptions to be a good bit of trashy fun.” Mr. Grant is far less enthusiastic about In Love We Trust and Just Anybody. Daniel Kasman is not entirely sold on Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg, but he concedes “Maddin???s humor comes through perhaps stronger in this film than any other (he narrates himself, with dialog by regular collaborator George Toles), pushing an obsessive, if not repetitive, theme of the life of a city and the life of a boy being an inescapable series of traumatic, almo ... " [More]
paulpaul FilmCouch #38
by paul in paul on spout.com
hasn't rated it.
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"Movies are a great way to explore the risk we never took. INTO THE WILD opens tonight, Sean Penn shares the story of first reading the book from an interview in Telluride. We also look at THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986, Peter Weir), starring Harrison Ford, and what these films tell us about breaking from civilization and doing the unthinkable. Karina interviews the makers of HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD and it becomes clear why she wrote “I don???t care how tired of Iraq documentaries you think you are???you need to see Heavy Metal in Baghdad.” FilmCouch #38 Subscribe in the iTunes store and a new free episode will download every Friday. Into the Wild, The Mosquito Coast, Heavy Metal in Baghdad Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Paul " [More]
paulpaul FilmCouch #38
by paul in FilmCouch
hasn't rated it.
"Movies are a great way to explore the risk we never took. INTO THE WILD opens tonight, Sean Penn shares the story of first reading the book from an interview in Telluride. We also look at THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986, Peter Weir), starring Harrison Ford, and what these films tell us about breaking from civilization and doing the unthinkable. Karina interviews the makers of HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD and it becomes clear why she wrote "I don’t care how tired of Iraq documentaries you think you are–you need to see Heavy Metal in Baghdad." FilmCouch #38 Subscribe in the iTunes store and a new free episode will download every Friday. " [More]
 



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