Syrian Metal is War

Monzer Darwish
Lebanon, Syria 2018 | 87 min | engl. subtitled
» Trailer

Metal music is stig­ma­tized in Syria as satan­ic and ille­gal, and some musi­cians have even gone to jail for play­ing it. How­ev­er, a pas­sion­ate com­mu­ni­ty of fans has con­tin­ued to follow their lifestyle even during the Syrian War, meet­ing in record­ing stu­dios and orga­niz­ing con­certs in the most per­ilous cir­cum­stances. In a way unlike any other, this music is asso­ci­at­ed with vio­lence and death, yet for the pro­tag­o­nists in this film, it is the elixir of life.
The film offers a per­son­al insight into the Syrian War and into a sub­cul­ture that is often dif­fi­cult to under­stand for outsiders.