TV tip of the day: Heavy metal in Baghdad

Friends, tonight from 23:05 p.m. to 00:30 a.m., 3sat will broadcast the documentary «Heavy Metal in Baghdad» from which we few years ago had already presented in the crypt and I can only recommend every metalhead to see it. "Heavy Metal in Baghdad" is a 2007 Canadian-American documentary film that follows the career of Acrassicauda, ​​Iraq's only metal band at the time, between 2003 and 2007. It consists of a total of four episodes, three of which were recorded in Baghdad. The last segment from December 2006 takes place in Damascus, where the band members lived as refugees. In addition to performances by the band, conversations with band members and views of Baghdad and the refugee camps in Damascus are shown.

The film accompanies the Iraqi heavy metal band from the fall of Saddam Hussein to their escape from Iraq. From 2003 to 2006, Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi sought out the four musicians and made a music film out of video diaries, interviews and recordings of the rare live performances that takes an unusual look at everyday life in Iraq. Four young men want to make music, but heavy metal seems almost impossible in a Muslim country. Hopes for freedom glimmer after Saddam's fall - but these hopes are brutally destroyed when the country descends into bloody uprisings. A bomb destroys the rehearsal room and instruments, few fans die or flee, and the band receives death threats from religious people. Celebrations are forbidden; Headbanging anyway, because the monotonous movement of the head resembles the prayers of the orthodox Jews. With a surprising amount of humor, the musicians describe their lives in a war zone where shootings, bomb attacks and kidnappings are the order of the day. Finally, the band flees to Damascus, Syria, fearing for their lives. The film "Heavy Metal in Baghdad" reflects the helpless and desperate attitude towards life of a young, disillusioned generation in Iraq whose lives were changed by the war.

The film doesn't exactly leave the viewer in high spirits. When western metal bands yell words like "killing" and "war" at the audience, they are often just empty clichés. For the four band members of Acrassicauda, ​​that's the sad reality. The film provides a harrowing inventory of life in a war zone, where people of all denominations want nothing more than normality and peace. The Iraqi reality that «Heavy Metal in Baghdad» conveys seems far worse than the atrocity images of the daily suicide bombings on the news channels suggest: fear and paranoia have reached an almost surreal level. Every step outside can be deadly. The band's singer and bassist are actually best friends whose apartments are less than a five-minute walk from each other. But because nobody dares to go out on the street anymore, they don't see each other more often than every few months. Finally the band flees to Damascus. At least you don't have to fear for your life there. But life is hard as a refugee without a work permit. Especially since the Syrian government is sending Iraqi refugees back. This is how the documentary ends: with anger, sadness and despair. But life goes on. Because the musicians have something that welds them together, that gives them courage and hope: metal. It's more than a style of music. Metal is – as pathetic as it may sound – a way of life. A conservative attitude to life in the best sense of the word, which emphasizes values ​​such as friendship and team spirit. And thus made it possible for the musicians to survive. In the literal sense.

TV tip of the day: Heavy metal in Baghdad