Wonderfully offbeat film!

ridiculous rating

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

'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

This documentary really opened my eyes to the simple pleasures that we take for granted . I was really moved by the fact that I can just hop in my car go to a gig and let my anger out in the pit and just live life . This documentary brings to light the hardships that occur in Iraq , and to this band the only thing that makes them free is getting together to jam and record a album . you will feel a whole new sense of self after seeing this documentary trust me. I as a Canadian feel a great injustice of what is occurring in Iraq after viewing this , but ,media and politics dictate what they want you to see. Wake up north America ! and create a world that we can all just be free to express ourselves in whatever form we choose .

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.

Just got back from the world premier at TIFF 07 and I am impressed. Like the gun market journey from the "Vice Guide" Eddy and Suroosh drew out the important issues behind the primary subject matter. I found the journey of the young men and their evolution through extreme turmoil delivered in a raw manner that one does not get through main stream media. The raw look at life and oppression that continues from the old Saddam regime into the new present day Iraq is shocking. The movie is shown through several time periods in the bands life and how playing music is the only thing that keeps them going. The band members that are interviewed are well spoken, articulate, and emotional. That emotion keeps coming back in the film and every happiness in their lives is tempered by the Iraq war to such a degree that the true impact of what's happening over there is just now becoming clearer. For me the true role and impact of the mass market main-stream media has been exposed and for that reason alone I would suggest watching "Heavy Metal in Baghdad". I also look forward to any subsequent sequels or Vice production regarding the lives of the band members but especially Tony and his pupil Mike.Thank you Eddy and Suroosh.