Vexille and Heavy Metal in Baghdad
Vexille is an anime film set in the near future after a period of 10 years where Japan had been closed off from the rest of the world. A US special unit called S.W.O.R.D. is sent on a covert mission to investigate what has been going on in the country for all these years. The findings are pretty bleak, reminding of the consequences of humans trying to become gods over nature.
The animation looked very good, though the human figures were as plastic looking as computeried images usually are. The Jags, rotating, semi-conscious vortexes made of pieces of scrap metal were pretty cool, though they did also remind me quite a lot of the sandworms in Dune.
The story was okay with lots of ation and some adrenaline raising tension filled senes, but the overall message fell a bit flat, because this kind of story has been done already so many times.
I liked the music in this, and as a random observation, it was funny to notice that Kuroki Meisa was the voice actor for the name character!
Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a wonderful documentary about Iraq's first and only heavy metal band, but what really made it really touching was the way it showed how ordinary Iraqi citizens' lives had been affected by the horrific conditions in the war-torn country. The young guys in the band are like normal metal fans all over the world, they want to play their music and have gigs, etc.
But playing heavy metal in Iraq puts their lives in constant risk. Growing their hair long is completely out of the question and even wearing a band t-shirt could get one killed as a Western sympathizer.
The guys talk about the living conditions in Iraq for normal citiens which sound horrifying. Their lives are constantly surrounded by death and bombs and tanks and soldiers. The threat of violence is everywhere. Everything feels pretty hopeless, because there is no sign that things are going to be getting better any time in the near future.
By the end of the document (which follows them for a three-year period from 2003 to 2006), all the members of the band have fled the country and are living as refugees in Syria. Some have family with them, some left their families behind. Syria looks safer, but the refugee existance is still pretty bleak. Like they say, in Syria they are below zero, while in Iraq they were at least on the zero level.
Still, these guys channel their rage and frustration into their music. Like one of them said while still in Iraq, if he didn't have music, he would probably go out and kill something. And the music isn't half bad, by the way.
The documentary also mentions the fact that everybody who can is fleeing Iraq because of it's chaotic situation. Over 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighbouring countries, with 1,2 million alone living in Syria. And the family members left behind tell them never to come back, because life for ordinary people in Iraq is just too horrible...
This was a very thought-provoking film that made me appreciate little things that I normally take for granted, and to gain an understanding of how the situation in Iraq has affected the civilian population of the country.
The animation looked very good, though the human figures were as plastic looking as computeried images usually are. The Jags, rotating, semi-conscious vortexes made of pieces of scrap metal were pretty cool, though they did also remind me quite a lot of the sandworms in Dune.
The story was okay with lots of ation and some adrenaline raising tension filled senes, but the overall message fell a bit flat, because this kind of story has been done already so many times.
I liked the music in this, and as a random observation, it was funny to notice that Kuroki Meisa was the voice actor for the name character!
Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a wonderful documentary about Iraq's first and only heavy metal band, but what really made it really touching was the way it showed how ordinary Iraqi citizens' lives had been affected by the horrific conditions in the war-torn country. The young guys in the band are like normal metal fans all over the world, they want to play their music and have gigs, etc.
But playing heavy metal in Iraq puts their lives in constant risk. Growing their hair long is completely out of the question and even wearing a band t-shirt could get one killed as a Western sympathizer.
The guys talk about the living conditions in Iraq for normal citiens which sound horrifying. Their lives are constantly surrounded by death and bombs and tanks and soldiers. The threat of violence is everywhere. Everything feels pretty hopeless, because there is no sign that things are going to be getting better any time in the near future.
By the end of the document (which follows them for a three-year period from 2003 to 2006), all the members of the band have fled the country and are living as refugees in Syria. Some have family with them, some left their families behind. Syria looks safer, but the refugee existance is still pretty bleak. Like they say, in Syria they are below zero, while in Iraq they were at least on the zero level.
Still, these guys channel their rage and frustration into their music. Like one of them said while still in Iraq, if he didn't have music, he would probably go out and kill something. And the music isn't half bad, by the way.
The documentary also mentions the fact that everybody who can is fleeing Iraq because of it's chaotic situation. Over 2 million Iraqis have fled to neighbouring countries, with 1,2 million alone living in Syria. And the family members left behind tell them never to come back, because life for ordinary people in Iraq is just too horrible...
This was a very thought-provoking film that made me appreciate little things that I normally take for granted, and to gain an understanding of how the situation in Iraq has affected the civilian population of the country.