Toronto. Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad (site) "follows the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda as they try not only to survive in the war torn city but to practice and eventually get gigs," writes Mike Plante for Filmmaker. "Proudly lo-fi, and all the stronger for it, the film shows how totally fucked the band is, stuck in a homeland that doesn't really exist, where you can live 15 minutes away from your best friend yet go six months without seeing them because you could get killed outside of your home."

"I don't care how tired of Iraq documentaries you think you are–you need to see Heavy Metal in Baghdad," demands Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog.

"It's got a little too much filmmaker presence for me (voice-over, appearing on-camera, and so on), but it's hard not to love any film that delivers a political message for the kiddies snugly wrapped in a burrito of heavy-metal appreciation (with some intimate glimpses at post-Saddam Iraq, where the sounds of machine-gun fire are just part of the urban landscape)," writes the San Francisco Bay Guardian's Cheryl Eddy.

Posted by dwhudson at September 12, 2007 6:55 AM