Death Metal Angola
Death Metal Angola
| 07 November 2014 (USA)
Death Metal Angola Trailers

Following nearly 40 years of unrelenting war, peace and reconstruction are slowly arriving to Angola. Huambo, Angola’s second largest city, finds 55 children in the Okutiuka orphanage under the care of Sonia Ferreira. Her boyfriend, Wilker Flores, is a death metal guitarist who uses sounds and rhythms of this hardcore music as a path to healing. Or, as Sonia says, “to clear out the debris from all these years of war.” The feature documentary follows Wilker and Sonia’s attempts to stage Angola’s first-ever national rock concert, bringing together members from different strands of the Angolan hardcore scene from different provinces, as it all unfolds in fits and starts, against the bombed out and mined backdrop of the formerly stately Huambo.

Reviews
stevenseidenberg

This excellent documentary joins a long and hallowed list of behind-the-scenes documentaries about rock concerts. And what a rock concert. This one, uniquely, catches the spirit of Angola through the staging of a Death Metal concert. I deeply enjoyed both the characters and the wholly unexpected scenario. The film had its slack moments in the middle, but the end is well worth waiting for. It just goes to show what you can do with a talented filmmaker and a shoestring. Would love to know the genesis of this film It is hard to imagine how the director found the story. Clearly he has a good eye for the unexpected and is fast on his feet when opportunity knocks. (Perhaps not so surprising as he is also a professional dancer.) Rock on.

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