ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

runamokprods I found myself surprised to like a film about heavy metal this much. Just personal taste, but it's not music that usually speaks to me.But this tragic, darkly comic, oddly triumphant and endearing look at a group of young Iraqis trying to keep their band together and play - in the middle of the insanity of war, and then later in exile in Syria - and also seeing the crazy bravery of the two young guys trying to make a film about them - has stuck in my head with very fond feelings. By making the war and it's effects this personal I came away with a much deeper understanding than I might have from a film trying to cover the whole wide landscape. I wasn't quite as moved on a second viewing with friends, but it's still a film I think of with tremendous warmth, and recommend whether you like heavy metal or not.

codeE WOW, This was such a great movie. After watching it I tried to describe it to my wife, during said explanation I realized that any explanation falls short and seeing it is the only way to "get it." On the surface it's about a struggling band. But it is so much more. I hate to use the word educational and scare any one off , but what an eye opener. Reguargless of your politics or musical preferences it will suck you in and keep you glued to the screen. Next time you here any kind artist say that they are "struggeling" show them this movie and then punch them in the face.P.SAcrassicauda if you come to this country you can stay at my place.(wait till I show my wife the movie first)

druid333-2 'Heavy Metal In Baghdad'is a documentary about the first & ONLY heavy metal band in Iraq (at least,so far). That band is/was Acrassicauda (Latin for 'The Black Scorpion'),a band that wants nothing more than to rock out. If they existed in America,Europe,Asia,or even parts of Africa,no problem. The fact that the band got their start prior to the American invasion of Iraq (or as most with half a brain referred it to an unprovoked attack by Fuhrer George II) only managed to make things worse. The band had to deal with ultra strict Islamic oppression (song lyrics had to be pro Sadam & pro Islam,shows had to end as early as seven o'clock,no women allowed at performances & a host of other related b.s.). Fellow Canadian documentary film makers,Eddy Moretti & Suroosh Alvi (Vice Guide To Travel),document their trip to Iraq to see if the members of Acrassicauda were still alive & performing (under extreme duress,as air travel was very dicey, where they had to take a plane to the far northern tip of Iraq & take a connecting flight into Baghdad,at great risk),and to see what conditions are like in post Sadam Iraq. Their brevity was rewarded. They meet up with the two surviving members with the band for a series of interviews (the other members had fled to Syria,and the other surviving members would eventually follow the following year). Through video footage of performances at various venues that they could actually play at,as well as personal insights by each band member,we get to know a bit more about their lives. This is a bleak, pessimistic film about several lives who have been exposed to way too much horror and death than one person should have to deal with. The interviews are spiked with anger & bitterness over what has happened to their beloved home country & the violence & hatred toward Iraqi's that has exploded with the subsequent U.S. invasion. Another eye opening documentary for those who have seen the well produced wave of anti war documentaries since all of this transpired. Spoken in English,Arabic & heavily accented English with English subtitles. Rated 'R'by the MPAA for pervasive strong language

gerrystakes I too saw this explosive high-risk film at the Toronto film festival, the day after Abu Risha, head of the Anbar Awakening Council in the supposedly "pacified" region of Iraq's notorious "Sunni triangle" was blown up ten days after meeting with President George Bush.In their first venture into feature-length guerrilla film-making, Moretti, head of VICE Films, and Alvi, co-founder of counterculture VICE magazine, follow what has happened to the members of "Acrassicauda" (Latin for black scorpion), Iraq's first and only heavy metal band. They note that the band had played four concerts during the Saddam era by including a song praising the tyrant which everyone knew was an ironic fake. Since the Coalition "liberation" of 2003, they have played only two, the last in the summer of 2005. Since then all have joined the ranks of the over two million Iraqi refugees (another nearly two million are internally displaced), over a million alone in neighboring Syria. The U.S. during this time has accepted less than 500.Shot by the intrepid duo in high-definition video during two dangerous trips to Baghdad and one to Damascus, the film contains candid interviews with band members, all apolitical and non-sectarian, speaking obscenity-laced English street talk. But then, their situation is obscenely perilous and unfree. It is not surprising for one to say: "(Expletive) this democracy", when their experience is one of a worsening life in hell followed by a "less than zero" subsistence exile in Damascus.After the screening, the filmmakers informed the audience that band members had been refused Canadian visas to come to the festival, that they were facing expulsion back to Iraq from Syria by October 10, and appealed for donations through the website http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/ to help them relocate.