Newsday, NY
Jan 25 2007

SCREAMERS
Rafer GuzmÁn

January 26, 2007

SCREAMERS (R).

With Angelina visiting Africa and Bono battling AIDS, you might think
the rock band System of a Down is hopping on the charity bandwagon
with "Screamers," a documentary that uses concert footage to draw
attention to genocide around the world. But the band’s four members,
all Armenian-Americans, have long been pushing for a very specific
and personal goal: to persuade the U.S. government to officially
recognize the 1915 Armenian massacre, at the hands of Ottoman Turks,
as genocide.

That semantic nicety – was it genocide, or mere slaughter? – is a
major issue for modern-day Turkey, which basically denies the 1915
atrocities and occasionally persecutes those who beg to differ. (Last
week a Turkish newspaper editor who challenged the official position
was shot dead outside his office.) Those who raise their voices about
genocide are nicknamed "screamers" in this movie, and the term could
also apply to the wild-eyed members of System of a Down. Singer Serj
Tankian, however, is refreshingly soft-spoken offstage: He’s as
gentle with his 96-year-old grandfather (a 1915 survivor) as he is
with former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

The film operates at a high-school reading level: Whenever
discussions get too deep, director Carla Garapedian quickly switches
to System of a Down thundering away before a sea of fists. But if
"Screamers" can turn a few head-bangers into brain users, it will
have achieved a noble goal.

–Boundary_(ID_djTi8xsfS9kFWGe9pPhsqg)–