Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Movie Night: Eagles Of Death Metal: Nos Amis (Our Friends) (2017)


Hello Friends,

Great HBO-produced documentary on The Eagles of Death Metal aka the band that was playing the night of a coordinated terror attack in Paris, France.

On Friday night, November 13, 2015, fans were rocking out at the famous Bataclan Theater in downtown Paris to The Eagles of Death Metal, who were in the middle of a European Tour promoting their really good 2015 record, Zipper Down.

In the middle of the EODM set (and right after frontman Jesse Hughes told the crowd how much he loved them), three gunman armed with machine guns, suicide vests & grenades raided the venue and began firing indiscriminately.  Mass confusion ensued as the concertgoers, band members and Bataclan employees ran for the exits, tried to hide, ducked for cover (some even beneath corpses) or played dead and prayed.  The attackers took hostages and threatened beheadings.  By the time it was over, they killed 89 innocent rock & roll fans and injured over 200.

Two of the terrorists blew themselves up; the third was shot & killed by the French police.

The documentary (directed by Colin Hanks) takes us back to the night of this devastating nightmare told through the eyes of the band and a small group of fans.  Spoiler Alert: Its fucking horrifying.

Hughes is a great interview.  He's got rock star swagger and charisma galore, but he cannot help (or hide) being truly and terribly disturbed by the events of November 13, 2015.  The film follows Hughes and the band as they ready themselves for their "back to Paris" concert in February of 2016 with hopes of gaining/providing/understanding some semblance of insight and, perhaps, closure. Here's a guy who's at his best when singing about tits and asses; now all he can do and return to the scene of the tragedy and sing his T&A songs like he's never done before.

Hey, you do what you're good at!

Joshua Homme (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age), who plays occasional bass & drums in EODM, provides the yin to Hughes's yang.  Homme is soft-spoken, reflective and very, very protective of best bud, Hughes.  Homme, himself, was not present at the Bataclan show, but breaks down when describing his outsider's perspective as to that fateful night.

The documentary skillfully, and appropriately, evades any geo-political opinions and even manages the improbable task of making Bono & The Edge seem like really cool guys!  (In the aftermath of events, U2 became big supporters of EODM.)

Ultimately, the heart of the film is the strange and beautiful friendship of Homme & Hughes.  Two misfits and outsiders, who although they cannot physically appear any differently, somehow found each other and bonded over a love of rock and roll.  This, at its essence, is proved time and again to be a much better and more effective way to deal with your inner (and outer) demons rather than going into a building and blowing a bunch of innocent people up on a Friday night.

Check out the doc.  Its definitely worth watching.  (Even if you're not necessarily fans of the band... or U2!)



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