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Heavy Metal in Baghdad (2007)

tomatometer

83

Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 4

Despite being a Gonzo-esque rockumentary following the fortunes of Iraq's one and only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda, Heavy Metal is actually a moving and impassioned account of the middle-east crisis.

86

Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 1

Despite being a Gonzo-esque rockumentary following the fortunes of Iraq's one and only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda, Heavy Metal is actually a moving and impassioned account of the middle-east crisis.

audience

84

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 867

My Rating

Movie Info

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

Jun 10, 2008

Arts Alliance

Cast

All Critics (23) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (4)

The low-budget movie's technical qualities aren't always the best, but considering the conditions under which the filmmakers worked, it's amazing that Heavy Metal in Baghdad was made at all.

May 23, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Post | Comment
New York Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The dangers these musicians experience every single day are bound to impact any audience. This is what it really looks like to bang your head against the wall.

May 23, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Daily News | Comment
New York Daily News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

More than just another Iraq-doc, Heavy Metal is a surprisingly up-close look at the toll of the war on young people, and how they still have dreams and still want to jam, party and get down.

May 23, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An intrepid, unlikely and altogether splendid feat of D.I.Y. reportage.

May 23, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie reclaims metal's appeal to the powerless as well as its threat--when you can get shot for wearing a Slipknot T-shirt (talk about "Death, be not proud")... raising those devil horns isn't an empty act of aggression.

May 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pic's chief drawback is onscreen narrator Suroosh Alvi (co-helming with Eddy Moretti), whose fratboy glee at their 'crazy mission' segues to such probing questions as, 'What's the vibe now?'

May 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Doc on Baghdad's only heavy metal band provides fascinating insights into war-torn country.

January 2, 2011 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au | Comment
sbs.com.au

Gives us a rough idea of how bloody awful it is to be living in Baghdad.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

It feels like a spoof, yet this documentary, which follows the fortunes of a monumentally rubbish Iraqi band called Acrassicauda, is for real.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: This is London | Comment (1)
This is London

And so this low-budget film says more about Gulf War II than all of Hollywood's efforts put together.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Sun Online | Comment
Sun Online

Watching the disintegration of Baghdad alongside the band members' aspirations makes this an enlightening and impassioned account of the Middle Eastern crisis.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Sky Movies | Comment
Sky Movies

Heavy Metal in Baghdad is one of those sneaky documentaries that starts out a light-hearted look at a semi-serious subject, and then suddenly turns into something far more moving and profound.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: IGN Movies UK | Comment
IGN Movies UK

Though they struggle to build a fan base, and end up seeking refuge in Syria, their dreams persist, still blazing fiercely at the close of this chastening and inspiring film.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | Comment
Daily Telegraph

This ill-starred four-piece are the heroes of a flawed, fascinating documentary, shot on digital video by two excitable gonzo-esque journalists from Vice magazine.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

You mourn the wasted opportunities to explore a culture in which the ultimate rebellion is to copy America's corporate rock.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

Sprawling and unfocussed but still a fascinating window onto an unreported world.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

The guerrilla-movie-making ethic of the directors is reflected in the band members, who sport goatees and speak excellent, hipster/metalhead-inflected American English.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

The film's at its strongest when Moretti and Alvi make it to Baghdad, but it suffers from a focusing too much on the music and not enough on the band's circumstances.

September 12, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Excellent documentary about the struggle of a heavy metal band to survive in Iraq.

June 5, 2008 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | Comment
rec.arts.movies.reviews

frustrating but nearly impossible to forget

May 23, 2008 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Filmcritic.com

Concentrating on the story of Acrassicauda, Iraq's sole metal band, filmmakers Moretti and Alvi reveal the heart-wrenching circumstances for the people caught between the occupiers and the militias.

May 9, 2008 Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | Comment
eye WEEKLY
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Heavy Metal in Baghdad

Acrassicauda means 'black scorpion' in latin. It's also the name of the only heavy metal band in Iraq. Needless to say, heavy metal is frowned upon by the fundamentalist authorities, who see their music as a form of Western propaganda. The journey of filmmakers finding this controversial band allows the audience a very

March 11, 2009
DrBenway
El Hombre Invisible

Super Reviewer

The daily struggles these guys go through to conquer even the simplest of tasks is incomprehinsible.

November 18, 2009
zdravkoduck
rocko perkovich

Super Reviewer

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