Rage Against the Machine

Filming a documentary in a war zone is no easy task. To make "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," a new film about Iraq's only known metal band, Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi of Vice Films smuggled themselves into the country, shelling out thousands of dollars for security and dodging constant disorder. But for the members of Acrassicauda, the band those filmmakers set out to find, chaos is a way of life. To get to practice, they cope with roadblocks, curfews and death threats. To fuel their amps, they use gas generators. They play shows amid power outages and mortar rounds, and risk being thrown in jail for headbanging. At one point, their practice space—a rare solace amid the insanity of Baghdad—is blown up, sparing their lives but destroying all their equipment.

In many ways "Heavy Metal in Baghdad," which hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles this month, is a tale of Iraqi youth. Acrassicauda's young members—Tony, Marwan, Faisal and Firas—are educated and Westernized, and though they're intensely loyal to Iraq, they yearn for a place where a Slip Knot T shirt won't get you killed. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has never been encouraged, but there was a brief time— between Saddam's fall and the chaos that ensued—when, like many Iraqis, they hoped real change would come. Their music, though, only underscores how the song remains the same: the grinding percussion and wrenching lyrics of tunes like "Massacre" conjure the whizzing missiles, mortar blasts and shotgun fire of daily life. "Sometimes, if I don't play drums as hard as I can, as fast as I can, [I feel like] I'm going to kill someone," says Marwan. Whether you love or hate metal, Acrassicauda's struggle to stay together—and alive—will rock you.

© 2008