Review: Scream of My Blood (Tribeca 2023)

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Title: Scream of My Blood
MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Director: Nate Pommer, Eric Weinrib
Starring: Gogol Bordello
Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes

What It Is: Scream of My Blood is a VICE documentary about the formation of Gypsy punk rock band Gogol Bordello and their journey throughout the last 20 years. Loud, rebellious, anti-soviet, and free-spirited, Gogol Bordello makes their punk origin story known in this very in-depth peak into their history.

What We Think:  The moment I was assigned this movie, I had been looking forward to watching and reviewing this film. As a singer in a punk band myself, I was very eager to dive into this documentary and learn all I could about Gogol Bordello, and it did not disappoint. I tend to enjoy most VICE music documentaries and this was no exception. They brought gasoline to this fire. This documentary went all out. The highs, the lows, the effects of the Ukrainian War on the band, this documentary had it all. Eugene Hütz is the lifeblood, heart, soul, and founder of the gypsy punk band which has gone through various evolutions. Growing up in soviet controlled Ukraine, he was a born rebel obsessed with rock, eventually finding his way to America, and thus his band. The documentary went into an awesome amount of detail as far as his influences, how the various members came together, and the sense of family that they formed along the way. Though there were times of burnout and frustration, the footage (which was remarkably able to show the entire span of their twenty-plus-year career) really gives a sense that even when times were rough for the gypsy band, their spirits were never truly broken. I don’t have anything negative to say about this documentary. It is an inspirational documentary front to back and I highly recommend it to anyone that has ever picked up an instrument or thought of playing in a band. Gogol Bordello isn’t just a kickass band made up of all sorts of varied people. They’re a family.

Our Grade: A+, This movie was an absolute WIN. If you are a musician that has ever played live or dreamt of playing live in front of an audience, I would daresay this is required watching.

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