Scream For Me Sarajevo (Eagle Rock Entertainment) [DVD Review]

Bruce Dickinson is one of those people who makes you feel lazy. If you have seen the movie Flight 666, you know that the Iron Maiden singer was not playing to tens or hundreds of thousands of people every night on tour, but also flying the band’s airplane. As if that were not enough, Dickinson is also an accomplished broadcaster, fencer, entrepreneur, author and brewer. The guy has always managed to keep busy with a variety of interesting projects.

Although Dickinson left Iron Maiden 1993, his solo career had begun several years earlier with 1990s Tattooed Millionaire. In 1994, Dickinson and his band Skunkworks were in the midst of a world tour, and one of the dates happened to be in Sarajevo; two British United Nations workers had convinced him to perform there. For those who know their world history, 1994 was a strange time for Sarajevo and especially not an ideal time for an international rock band to be playing there. Scream For Me Sarajevo documents Dickinson and crew’s Sarajevo experience, not only showing footage from the historic concert, but actual video from the city being under siege. Dickinson (who rejoined Maiden in 1999), his bandmates and crew members also contributed new interviews to Scream For Me Sarajevo more than two decades after the fact.

This film deserves a 9.0 rating if you are a big fan of Iron Maiden and/or Bruce Dickinson’s solo career. It may not be a light-hearted documentary, but it is full of music of interest. If Maiden is not so much your speed, but you are interested in a look at war-torn Sarajevo with an underlying story of how music can bridge gaps, that also ought to warrant a 9.0 rating. As directed by Tarik Hodzic, Scream For Me Sarajevo has already taken home top honors from the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Chicago International Movies & Music Festival, DokuArt Bjelovar, dokuMfest and Tuzla Film Festival, so expect to hear plenty more about Scream For Me Sarajevo — for which a soundtrack is also being released — in the months to come.

Director: Tarik Hodzic
Starring: Bruce Dickinson, Alen Ajanovic, Esad Bratovic
Distributor: Eagle Rock Entertainment
Release Date: June 29, 2018
Run Time: 95 minutes

Check out the “Scream For Me Sarajevo” trailer here.