DOWN WITH THE SYSTEM
Kyle O’shea
University at Buffalo – The Spectrum
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March 26 2008
NY
Normally the only screaming heard at a rock concert is from the
righteous audience, destroying their vocal cords singing for the band,
not political change. That is, unless you’re the politically inclined
rock-metal band System of a Down, which serves as the celebrity center
of the recent documentary Screamers.
Throughout the film, directed by Carla Garapedian, lead System singer
Serj Tankian goes as far as to publicly confront the former Speaker
of the House, Dennis Hastert. Though the Speaker is disinclined to
speak, Tankian is unperturbed.
Known primarily as a band that makes people kick heads in before
grabbing a picket sign, they have a reason for their passion. Every
member of the band is of Armenian descent, and each is the grandson
of a man who survived the Armenian Genocide of 1915.
The Grammy award-winning band condemns the US for refusing to publicly
acknowledge the genocide due to its temperamental relations with
Turkey. Screamers shows the Turkish government’s efforts to suppress
the existence of such events through forms of propaganda.
Live performances of the band playing around the world are interspersed
with an ethereal montage of various victims of genocide.
Images are shown of the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda,
and Darfur.
The camera work of the band’s performances is unnecessarily
erratic. Too many shots are from bad angles and sometimes the lights
just blind the audience. At one point the filmmakers cut out from
System performing in one country, flashing over a brief educational
intermission before returning to the band playing the same exact song
elsewhere, which is confusing.
They do, however, show plenty of the group’s more intense and prevalent
songs, including "BYOB" and "Holy Mountain." Their performance is as
intense as it is riveting, and if the documentary doesn’t shatter some
misconceptions and open eyes, then check the pulse of the audience.
"This band didn’t start to change the world. This band didn’t start to
change your mind. This band just started to make you ask questions,"
said lead guitarist Daron Malakian.
In order to accomplish this goal, the audience is exposed to personal
accounts of both the drummer John Dolmayan and Tankian.
Bassist Shavo Odadjian has no family members left alive; he is the
last branch of his family tree. Tankian still has his grandfather who
is in a retirement home. System’s lead singer interviews his elder,
including a tragic home video of the man’s testimonial.
Some of the stories told are plain horrifying: children’s heads being
bashed together, and a clip of System organizing a protest in front
of a congressman’s office in Washington, DC, tallying the lives lost
to the multitude of genocides. The documentary closes with a haunting
series of the bands actual ancestors, most of whom are deceased.
As well as performing exciting shows, System of a Down is actively
involved in educating people about events that are rarely discussed in
general schooling. They hand out packets of information about racial
cleansing to their fans, which are addressed to the kids’ teachers.
Fans love the fact that the group is multifaceted, and not just out
to make some dollars. At the beginning of the film, people entering
the film’s testimonials explain their reason for loving the band,
and their efforts towards enlightenment.
Screamers pay homage to the victims of genocide while attacking the
governments that allow racial cleansing to continue. Though it is
not flashy, it is the brutal simplicity that proves to be effective.
They have no need to dress up their message; they know the truth of
it is provocative enough as long as people are aware of it.