There have been a lot of films dealing with the political and military aspects of the war in Iraq, but a new documentary focuses on the civilians. Heavy Metal in Baghdad goes into the heart of Baghdad and into the lives of five young Iraqi musicians struggling to survive and create music. It’s a poignant and powerful political story that just happens to involve heavy metal.The film has received a lot of positive attention, but it was an essay written about the movie by American guitarist Alex Skolnick of the heavy metal band Testament that seemed to capture the essence of the film with an acuity only another musician could offer. After the premiere on Friday, I spoke to Alex, and he was happy to contribute his essay to Playboy’s blog, which is excerpted here:
HMIB puts a very human face on the misunderstood, overlooked population of Iraqi civilians, via this group of dedicated musicians. Right away I feel I know these guys. They're just like any other cool metal guys from other countries. They speak pretty good, if broken, English (much of it learned from metal lyrics), they use the 'f' word a lot and they wear black clad t-shirts with logo's of their favorite bands. These are guys with whom you can share a beer and listen to a Slayer CD, fist in the air. They have a great sense of humor (despite all they're going through) and love metal. They want the same things most of us want, to be able to pursue our dreams and have a good time doing it. But for them, like anyone else in Iraq, it's not so easy.
Any thoughts I've ever had about my own 'struggles' being a musician were quickly put to shame when I saw this film. Sure, I've dealt with my share of cancelled flights, lost luggage and equipment failure. But bombings, curfews, sniper fire, and having your country under siege 24 hours a day while on the brink of civil war? For the guys in Acrassicauda (which translates from Latin to “Black Scorpion”), this is a daily reality in Iraq, where putting on one concert in Iraq is more challenging than booking an entire tour in the US. There is a litany of questioning, searches and inspections. Electricity is fleeting and there is an early evening curfew. As a result, gigs are extremely rare, and that's just in the beginning when we first get to know the band. Things only get worse from there.
While most musicians have been victims of equipment theft at one time or another, these guys have to watch their entire rehearsal spot destroyed by a bomb, with all their equipment inside. When the filmmakers attempt to donate instruments, CD's and other items to the guys, there is a wall of US bureaucracy that prevents the items from reaching the band. The band, meanwhile are unable to travel to Europe or the US because of their Iraqi passports.
These situations escalate and illustrate some of the many ironies presented in the film, one of the biggest being that the metal fans and musicians of Iraq have been suppressed by the very forces which should be embracing them the most. Whether US politicians (especially conservative Republicans) want to admit it or not, there is something very pro-Democracy and pro-American about metal. When we see these Iraqi guys with their Metallica and Megadeth T-shirts and CD's, they are proudly displaying products which are reflective of our capitalist systems. They're not ashamed of that and show no ill will toward the US. In other words metal is achieving what our foreign policy is not.
Heavy Metal in Baghdad premiered in New York City and Los Angeles on May 23rd and will be available on DVD June 10th. Testament’s new album, Formation of Damnation, was released in the US on April 29th. They were also recently the featured artist of the week on MTV.
This story was featured on playboy.com's homepage. Click to enlarge image: 
