the best film i saw yesterday was "heavy metal in baghdad" (imdb), a documentary about an iraqi heavy metal band (perhaps the only iraqi heavy metal band) called acrassicauda.
acrassicauda first performed in 2002, about a year before the u.s. invasion. after the americans arrived, iraqi society fell apart and the band found it to be increasingly difficult to keep up the band. with some foreign help, they manage to put on a pair of post-invasion concerts before even that becomes untenable. meanwhile, i missile hits the space they used to practice, destroying all their instruments. militants begin targeting musicians or anyone seen as connected with westerners, by 2006, the members of acrassicauda who haven't fled the country take a major risk just by leaving home.
the band members say that they don't care about politics, and yet the political reality inevitably overwhelms them. we watch as they increasingly try to deal with an impossible situation. as things get worse and worse, all they want is the chance to wear their heavy metal t-shirts in public, grow their hair long and play the music they want without fear of death. i didn't know whether to admire the guys for their tenacity, or to dismiss them as fools. a heavy metal band is pretty low on the list of things that iraqi society needs right now, it hardly seems like something worth risking your life for. by the end of the film, the band members have all fled to syria. in syria they live an impoverished existence, unable to work legally, though still trying to play concerts and record their songs.
acrassicauda's story is really the story of millions of iraqis. the musicians don't care about sectarian divisions, federalism or how to divide oil revenue, they just want to live their lives and pursue their dreams.
if you're curious, the band's blog is here, and their myspace page is here. it looks like they're living in istanbul now.
