Band on the Run

Last night, I attended a screening of the documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad. If you're familiar with Vice magazine or their online tv station VBS, you may already be familiar with the film, but for those who are not, here's a brief synopsis:

"Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a feature film documentary that follows the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day. Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult (if not impossible) proposition but after Saddam’s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. That hope was quickly dashed as their country fell into a bloody insurgency. From 2004-2007, Iraq disintegrated around them while Acrassicauda struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis."

The powerful film is a great insight into what Iraqi culture is really like. Though, of course, it too carries its own biases, it feels like a more honest glimpse into their reality than what we see on CNN, and the journalists behind it are really putting their lives on the line by going into Baghdad to tell this band's story.

The film is a must-see when it is released, but in the meantime, the band needs help. The director, Suroosh Alvi, explained last night that after fled Iraq for Syria their visas began to expire. Vice raised $10,000 at the Toronto film festival which bought the four transportation to Turkey where they are currently living and trying to get refugee status, which may help them later become refugees in Europe, the UK, or even America. They sold their instruments to pay rent and buy food. They aren't the only Iraqi citizens living in hardship, but if you want to help them out, the movie's official site (heavymetalinbaghdad.com) is taking paypal donations for them, and at least you will be able to see the impact your donation has.