Directors: Suroosh Alvi/Eddy Moretti, 15, 84min

On selected release

These are tough times to be a metalhead in Iraq. Head-banging is frowned upon for being “Jewish”; goatee beards invite trouble; and you could be killed for wearing a Slipknot T-shirt. This gonzo documentary traces the intermittent career of Iraq’s only heavy metal band, Acrassicauda, from 2003 until 2006. Under attack from fundamentalists for “Satan worship” and bound by restrictive curfews, the band managed only a handful of live performances in Baghdad before being forced into exile, first in Syria and now Turkey.

Co-directed by Moretti and Alvi (both from VICE magazine), the film lacks any real political insight, instead favouring “awesome, dude!” skate-park philosophising about the “craziness” of the situation in war-torn Iraq.

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