An odd duck of a documentary, but a powerful one.
Comment
06/08/07
Screamers (2006)
66 %
Reviews Counted: 32 Fresh: 21 Rotten:11 Average Rating: 6.2/10
Consensus:
A raw and urgent snapshot of a band and the politics that drive it.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Synopsis: Documentary feature examining why genocides keep occurring -- from the Armenian genocide in 1915, to the Holocaust, Bosnia, Rwanda and now Darfur -- through the eyes and music of the Grammy award-winning rock band "System of a Down," based in Los Angeles, whose members are all grandchildren... [More]
Genre: Education/General Interest
Director: Carla Garapedian
Reviews
Is it possible to get mad at a film that has its heart and soul in the right place?
06/08/07
Click to read the article
05/14/07
The Armenian genocide and the continuing Turkish denial of history. The film offers damning evidence that the highly civilized European Union should do everything it can to keep the highly uncivilized Turks from becoming equals in EU membership.
02/19/07
Grating concert footage trivializes Garapedian's message. (One fan, celebrating the band's political potency, enthuses that 'System is antiwar, they're anti-this, anti-that.')
02/09/07
Screamers isn't didactic; it doesn't tell you how to respond. It just wants you to know and to ask questions.
02/09/07
Armenian-American director Carla Garapedian, who got a doctorate in international relations at the London School of Economics, presents a wide-awake, high-decibel briefing on foreign policy.
02/09/07
Top Critic
This film has provocations to spare; it just hasn't been made provocatively. It's a mess, actually.
02/09/07
Cannot decide if it wants to be a documentary about the band System of a Down or what the band is about.
02/08/07
Screamers is a commendably brave piece, but less focused and powerful than you'd like.
02/08/07
The film's composite testimony, from the charismatic band and more-metaphorical screamers such as politicians, scholars and eyewitnesses, is both scary and motivating.
02/03/07
System of a Down, whose members are the grandsons of genocide survivors, anchor this musical and political documentary with surprising gravitas, and the film offers true insight into the patterns of war crimes.
01/31/07
Despite a limited understanding of why genocide occurs, a worthwhile introduction to one of the 20th century's greatest crimes.
01/27/07
Rife with rotting corpses, severed heads and massacred children, Screamers is one of the most horrifying movies I've ever seen.
01/26/07
Fans are, obviously, most likely to appreciate the concert footage that's woven throughout the film.
01/26/07
Part rockumentary, part howl of outrage, Screamers is an invigorating and articulate film.
01/26/07
Top Critic
It raises more questions than it answers, but the passion is more than welcome-from both the band and director Carla Garapedian.
01/25/07
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