Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi's powerful yet soft-centred documentary about the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda creates a fascinating portrait of life in Iraq as seen through the eyes of young metal-heads...

| Sep 26, 2017

Doc on Baghdad's only heavy metal band provides fascinating insights into war-torn country.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 2, 2011

Gives us a rough idea of how bloody awful it is to be living in Baghdad.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 26, 2009

It feels like a spoof, yet this documentary, which follows the fortunes of a monumentally rubbish Iraqi band called Acrassicauda, is for real.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 12, 2008

And so this low-budget film says more about Gulf War II than all of Hollywood's efforts put together.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 12, 2008

Watching the disintegration of Baghdad alongside the band members' aspirations makes this an enlightening and impassioned account of the Middle Eastern crisis.

| Sep 12, 2008

Heavy Metal in Baghdad is one of those sneaky documentaries that starts out a light-hearted look at a semi-serious subject, and then suddenly turns into something far more moving and profound.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 12, 2008

Though they struggle to build a fan base, and end up seeking refuge in Syria, their dreams persist, still blazing fiercely at the close of this chastening and inspiring film.

| Sep 12, 2008

This ill-starred four-piece are the heroes of a flawed, fascinating documentary, shot on digital video by two excitable gonzo-esque journalists from Vice magazine.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 12, 2008

You mourn the wasted opportunities to explore a culture in which the ultimate rebellion is to copy America's corporate rock.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 12, 2008

Sprawling and unfocussed but still a fascinating window onto an unreported world.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 12, 2008

The guerrilla-movie-making ethic of the directors is reflected in the band members, who sport goatees and speak excellent, hipster/metalhead-inflected American English.

| Original Score: 3/6 | Sep 12, 2008

The film's at its strongest when Moretti and Alvi make it to Baghdad, but it suffers from a focusing too much on the music and not enough on the band's circumstances.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 12, 2008

Excellent documentary about the struggle of a heavy metal band to survive in Iraq.

| Jun 5, 2008

frustrating but nearly impossible to forget

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 23, 2008

The low-budget movie's technical qualities aren't always the best, but considering the conditions under which the filmmakers worked, it's amazing that Heavy Metal in Baghdad was made at all.

| Original Score: 3/4f | May 23, 2008

The dangers these musicians experience every single day are bound to impact any audience. This is what it really looks like to bang your head against the wall.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 23, 2008

More than just another Iraq-doc, Heavy Metal is a surprisingly up-close look at the toll of the war on young people, and how they still have dreams and still want to jam, party and get down.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 23, 2008

An intrepid, unlikely and altogether splendid feat of D.I.Y. reportage.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 23, 2008

The movie reclaims metal's appeal to the powerless as well as its threat--when you can get shot for wearing a Slipknot T-shirt (talk about "Death, be not proud")... raising those devil horns isn't an empty act of aggression.

Full Review | May 21, 2008