Rockers focus on more than sex, drugs: System of a Down tackles genocide

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune – Illinois – KRTBN
Feb 09, 2007

What are the roots of genocide?

"Screamers," a documentary/concert film that begins by focusing on the
Armenian genocide of 1915 and broadens to include mass exterminations
from the Holocaust on, tries to both give witness and provide an
answer. Mixing concert footage of the Armenian-American rock group
System of a Down–whose hypnotic protest ballads supply the
"screamers" of the title–with interviews and archive footage
detailing genocides throughout the 20th and 21st Centuries, director
Carla Garapedian makes us face again the appalling consequences of
untrammeled political dictatorship and of murder as a public policy.

The movie’s theme is simple. Genocides happen because of the mass
political pathologies and conditions that trigger them–but also
because the rest of the world chooses to look the other
way. Garapedian begins with the massacre in Armenia–when the Ottoman
Turkish government systematically slaughtered the Armenian population
during a time of forced deportations in 1915. (Death toll estimates
range from the Turkish government estimate of 300,000 to some Armenian
sources that cite up to two million fatalities.)

Gradually, she expands her story to include the Holocaust, Cambodia,
Rwanda, Bosnia, the Kurdish massacres in Iraq and present-day deaths
in Darfur. The Armenian slaughter remains her main concern–and also
that of System of the Down and their singer, Serj Tankian–but she
does try to tie everything together. It’s particularly infuriating,
after learning of all these often unrecorded deaths and national
coverups, to see ex-Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert–accused here
of helping bury Armenian genocide recognition bills in the
House–smugly dodging questions from Tankian.

"Screamers" is a commendably brave piece, but less focused and
powerful than you’d like. In the end, Garapedian might have been
better off concentrating her energy on the 1915 Armenian story–which
has been told on film various times (for example, in "Forty Days of
Musa Dagh" and Atom Egoyan’s "Ararat"), but never with the power of,
say, "The Pianist" or "Schindler’s List."

After a while, the other episodes of mass slaughter sometimes seem too
hastily covered and the theme not eloquently enough expressed. If you
know little about the terrible Armenian episode and its aftermath,
"Screamers" may be a good place to start. The worldwide cycle of
genocide, unfortunately, shows little sign of ending.

– – –

‘Screamers’

(star)(star)

Directed by Carla Garapedian; photographed by Charles Rose; edited by
William Yarhaus; music by Jeff Atmajian, System of a Down; produced by
Nick de Grunwald, Guardian, Peter McAlevey, Timothy F. Swain. An MG2
Productions/BBC Television/Raffy Manoukian Charity presentation; opens
Friday at the Kerasotes Webster Place Theatres, 1471
W. Webster. Running time: 1:31.

MPAA rating: R (for disturbing images of genocide and language).

(star)(star)(star)(star) EXCELLENT

(star)(star)(star) GOOD

(star)(star) FAIR

(star) POOR

_mwilmington@tribune.com_ (mailto:mwilmington@tribune.com)