Heavy Metal in Baghdad-Star Brown

Heavy Metal in Baghdad (2007)
Directors: Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi

After viewing this documentary and then reflecting on the current events in America, I thought, “damn…we got it good.” Heavy Metal in Baghdad is no joke. It is an insightful film that takes an intimate look at the truth and reality of life in Baghdad during the insurgency and how dangerous it is for a band to perform heavy metal music.

The film starts off with the directors putting on bulletproof vests in an open dirt lot surrounded by men with guns, hired to protect them. Their faces are blurred. This is setting the scene and story on the fear and extreme paranoia that haunt the city of Baghdad to the point of it being almost unreal. Suroosh, one of the directors has his face shown on camera and his voice-overs narrate the entirety of the film. He states, “This is risky, it’s dangerous, people say it’s really fucking stupid for us to be doing this, but um…you know heavy metal rules.”

The directors made an interesting choice by integrating their personal experience of documenting the only heavy metal from Baghdad, Acrassicauda. By involving themselves in the documentary, it opens the story to unfolding their relationships with the band members and their attempts to try and help these guys to keep on playing heavy metal. The constant conflict these characters face is the ever-present violence and suspicion that lingers everywhere. The directors drive around in bulletproof cars armed with guns. They have a translator to help them get around and make contact with the band members. They can’t speak English out loud or they may get sniped. The same goes for the band members who have lived in the war zone since it all happened. Firas, the bassist states how they’re use to all the violence and not shocked to see or hear about bombings in the city. It is to be expected and that he lives every day as if it were his last. The band members all share that same thought of being unafraid of death and that their ultimate dream is to keep playing heavy metal music for their fan base.

The shooting style was very raw—cinema verite. Especially during the scenes in Baghdad, you could just see how things were shaking when they were outside exposed in the daylight. This contributed to showing the truth of what is really going on in Baghdad, (which probably rubbed those Republicans the wrong way). The film consists of a mixture of b roll footage of Baghdad and Syria with casual talking head sequences.
Every minute in every scene is eye opening with the way it was shot, the characters with their real lives in Baghdad and the directors’ personal involvement with the band.

The narrative structure is strong and compelling for the viewer to be interested throughout the film. Moretti and Alvi weave important facts about Baghdad and the critical effects it has on the Iraq people—especially the band members. The beginning of the film shows Baghdad: apache helicopters bombing buildings, trucks with guns, decayed buildings everywhere, scarce people walking around, ak47 guns, road blocks, and the band members sitting inside a venue talking about their music and the huge challenges they face for playing one gig. The film moves on to Syria where many Iraqi refugees have fled including the band members. There they give it their last shot to perform but not sure what to expect. They end up having a successful show giving them the extra push into recording an album. The band uses heavy metal as a creative outlet for their anger and rage on the messed up situation in Baghdad and the oppression it has left on the Iraqi people. Toward the end, it gets real intense and emotional as the band members start speaking their thoughts directly to the camera that’ll reach the people of America. Their music and their voices have finally been heard.