Rent This: Heavy Metal in Baghdad

For the most part, Vice Magazine aims to uncover the world's more troubling aspects in an equally troubling light, but their documentary about Baghdad metal band Acrassicauda's aspiration to simply remain intact amid the bedlam of war is one of the authentic documentaries I've ever seen.

To find out what happened to "Iraq's only metal band" after the fall of Saddam Hussein, two filmmakers travel from NYC to Baghdad, get outfitted with heavy artillery and a security detail and witness how the band copes with a reality most metal bands only write about--in Baghdad there is actual carnage and hell is quite possibly right here on Earth. It's Acrassicuada's simple love of music alone that guides them through a downright ridiculously dangerous, depressing reality. Seeing what they go through to play a show or record their first demo puts into perspective how criminally easy up-and-coming bands and anyone not living with with war have it. 

--Gabi Knight