Movie : Heavy Metal in Baghdad.

Just watched a documentary movie on a rock band in Iraq. It's a glimpse into the lives of a rock band who started out in Baghdad. How the war has thorn their country apart and how the band has had to overcome the struggles of war and moving out of their country.

Fascinating movie. If you have netflix, rent it.


http://www.myspace.com/wwwacrassicaudas5com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrassicauda

I saw that one!

Originally Posted by: Neal WalterI saw that one!

Did you like it? Made me kinda want to find out who these guys are and send them some money.

Wicked, I've been wanting to watch more music docs and music related films....saw It Might Get Loud and We Jam Econo recently, thanks for the suggestion.

This was a really good documentary and I feel really bad for what they have gone through, and what will probably be the rest of their lives. They really went through a lot to play metal shows in Baghdad. They eventually made their way out of the country to Syria and they hated it there. You would think they would have been happy not to have been randomly blown up in Iraq, but they literally couldn't do much of anything in Syria being immigrants. They couldn't really get jobs or anything.

This post made me look them up to see whats going on and found this on the Wikipedia page:

During the filming it was revealed that the Syrian government did not intend to extend the visas of the band to stay in Syria, as a result, the filmmakers campaigned to raise funds to relocate the band in a safer country, rather than return to Iraq. In 2009, the band were resettled in the United States as refugees.

Sweet!

News article on it here

And on Sunday night, two days after the last of the band’s four members was resettled in the United States, they enjoyed what any metal fan would have to call heaven: bearhugs and “Wow, dude” heart-to-hearts backstage with Metallica at the Prudential Center in Newark. It probably wasn’t necessary for James Hetfield, Metallica’s lead singer, to surprise them after the show by handing over one of his guitars, a black ESP, and signing it “Welcome to America”; their minds were already blown.

Amazing!

The members of Acrassicauda arrived back at their apartment in Elizabeth well past midnight with armfuls of Burger King food for their dinner, but Mr. Talal went straight for the new guitar he had just received from Mr. Hetfield and plugged it into a tiny Peavey amplifier on the floor. With the volume low, he started playing Metallica riffs, and looked up.

“Wow,” he beamed, and then went back to the guitar.

\m/

After I posted this, I seen something where they relocated here. Good for them. Hope they have lots of success!