Russia’s barbaric ongoing invasion of Ukraine lends extra newsworthy bite to Scream of My Blood, a lively cinematic portrait of the “gypsy punk” rock group Gogol Bordello and their charismatic Ukrainian-born frontman, Eugene Hütz. Directed by Nate Pommer and Eric Weinrib, this engaging rock-doc is ostensibly a chronicle of the New York-based band’s 25 year history, but it is framed by the singer’s recent poignant return to his war-torn homeland, where he performs for military personnel and refugees displaced by Russian shelling.
Hütz is the revved-up emotional engine of Scream of My Blood. He mostly comes across as a frank and passionate character, bursting with energy and humour, clearly sharing a warm bond with his ragtag army of band members. Punk godfather Iggy Pop also makes a brief cameo, as does cult record producer Steve Albini, famed for his work with Pixies and Nirvana. Backed by troubled media company Vice News, this fast-paced rockumentary premiered at Tribeca film festival last month, where it earned a special jury mention, and makes its international debut in Karlovy Vary this week. Although Hütz is only a cult-level rock star, his lusty party-punk music, boosted by that timely Ukraine angle, should help secure sales interest and further festival slots.
Pommer and Weinrib build a rich collage of personal photos, archive footage, recent interviews and live performance clips. They begin by rewinding to Hütz’s childhood in Soviet-era Kyiv. His father, a counter-culture hippie forever under suspicion for his illicit love of western pop music, is a genial background presence in the film. The rule under Russian occupation was “stay fucking bland”, Hütz recalls, a repressive attitude which only helped foster a vibrant Ukrainian punk subculture, repurposing banned folk music as dissident rebel rock.
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster played an unexpected role in Gogol Bordello’s genesis. To escape possible radiation poisoning, Hütz and family temporarily relocated from Kyiv to stay with relatives in the Carpathian mountain region of western Ukraine, where he first discovered his Romani musical heritage. On his return to Kyiv, a 1989 live show by US noise-rockers Sonic Youth also proved life-changing. Fusing these two disparate influences was an inspired decision that would later bear fruit in Gogol Bordello.
When Gorbachev began relaxing Soviet control on Ukraine, Hütz’s family eagerly applied to emigrate. After bouncing around Europe as rootless refugees, they finally landing in the US state of Vermont in 1992. After spending his teens at punk and hardcore shows, Hütz inevitably gravitated to New York City, where he formed an embryonic version of Gogol Bordello in 1999. Rare clips of the band’s explosive early live shows, a riotous fusion of Dadaist cabaret with rock performance, are highly entertaining. Scream of My Blood then moves into more conventional bio-doc mode, skipping through the decades as the band earn growing fame and add more members to their multicultural melting pot. “An orchestra of immigrants,” Hütz calls them.
Behind his engagingly open-hearted manner, Hütz actually gives very little away in Scream of My Blood. We learn nothing about his private life and relationships, for example, while a shaky period of burn-out and relocation to Brazil is only thinly explained. Perhaps inevitably, there is no mention of the lawsuit that former guitarist Oren Kaplan launched against the singer in 2013, accusing Hütz of stealing $500,000 from the band’s bank account.
Harder to explain is the omission of Hütz’s high-profile friendship with Madonna, who only appears fleetingly here in an archive awards show clip. The material girl performed live with Gogol Bordello in 2007, and even gave Hütz a co-starring role in her film directing debut, Filth and Wisdom (2008), both glaringly absent here. The singer’s other main acting credit, opposite Elijah Wood in Liev Schreiber’s Everything is Illuminated (2005), is similarly overlooked. Which is odd, as Schreiber is listed as co-producer on Scream of My Blood.
That said, for fans of Gogol Bordello’s supercharged mongrel-punk racket, there is a feast of spectacular concert footage here, spanning two decades and multiple contienets. For casually curious viewers, Scream of My Blood is a fast-moving, well-crafted primer on the band, light on background detail but generally compelling. The scenes of Hütz singing and dancing with refugees in Ukrainian bomb shelters, and dedicating boisterous concerts to his ancestral homeland’s indestructible warrior spirit, lend this film a powerful emotional kick.
Directors: Nate Pommer, Eric Weinrib
Cast: Eugene Hütz, Pamela Racine, Sergey Ryabtsev, Pedro Erazo, Elizabeth Sun, Iggy Pop
Cinematography: Nate Pommer
Editing: Nate Pommer, Chris Iversen, Paula Salhany
Music: Eugene Hütz, Gogol Bordello
Producers: Nate Pommer, Beverly Chase
Production companyt: VICE News (US)
Venue: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Special Screenings)
In English, Ukrainian
90 minutes
