Doing a bit of housecleaning I came across my notes on a film I meant to write about here previously “Heavy Metal in Baghdad”. I caught it last month at the Toronto International Film Festival and the film basically follows around Iraq’s only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda (means “The Black Scorpion”) as they do all the things your average Iraqi heavy metal band do. Namely:
· Work very hard to hold a rock show in a sad looking community center where about 25 men (no ladies, please) come to bang their heads (by the way headbanging is not allowed in Iraq because the head bobbing gesture is considered “too much like Jews praying” ??);
· Have their practice space blown up by a scud missile;
and eventually...
· Flee to Syria before the government cracks down on their Metallica-loving ways.
If anything, this portrait of a band with a dream in the middle of a country with so little hope reminds westerners like myself how easy it is to take for granted the liberties we have. While today I lament tickets for the Van Halen reunion tour are sold out, Acrassicauda wonders if they will be put in jail for rocking out, and collectively dream of a day when they can grow their hair long (prohibited by Iraqi law) and love metal openly rather than behind closed doors.
When I saw the film, the filmmakers were there along with Acrassicauda’s former lead singer who was applauded by filmgoers seemingly to his own shame. The filmmakers made impassioned pleas to the audience to donate money to help the band get out of the middle east, explaining how the band have had to sell their instruments to continue living in Damascus where they were seeking asylum. The band would have come to the world premiere of their film, but Canada would not approve their visas. Additionally the filmmakers want to get Acrassicauda on Ozzfest. Never did heavy metal appear a floatation device so desperately grasped by four young men. For those about to rock, I salute you.
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