Scream for Me Sarajevo

Randomly screened on the BBC over Christmas 2020 - what I'd taken to simply be a concert film with some historical framing turns out to be quite a touching and harrowing documentary about the Bruce Dickinson solo band being essentially smuggled into the besieged Sarajevo to play a concert for the people there. It's got a commendably sharp focus and only really speaks to those directly involved - it's an endearingly frank portrait of a painful period of history, but also the spirit of music, the optimism of youth and the wild escapism that can flood into you during a really unforgettable gig.

I have just watched an amazing documentary. I am a Maiden fan and have seen Bruce many times. I have been to loads of great gigs but I never went to one where I may get shot by a sniper or blown up by an artillery round.

Those who made it happen deserve immense praise for thinking of something as insane as this and then doing something about it. Kudos to Bruce and the band for literally risking their lives for a gig.

Also those courageous and wonderful people who managed to dismiss from their mind all the madness around them and braved potentially snipers and mortars to attend something magical.

The lesson they teach us is you don't listen to music with your ears you listen to it with your soul.

Congratulations to the team on making such an amazing movie about hope amidst suffering. It was painful to watch the suffering of Bosnian civilians caused by Serb attackers. There is nothing fake in this, you can feel that this gig and that war changed some lives, and they admit to it. When you see Bruce, a UN major and officer, and the rest of the band cry in some point during the movie, you can't but feel the genuinity of the story. Also, to be such an explorer, to come to a city with a raging war going on to play music, is worlds apart from today's understanding of music as a money maker. I really wish to thank Bruce and the gang for displaying such confidence and for providing hope when hope was little. I recommend this movie to anyone that still looks for the good in the world.

Super deep event, the stuff of life itself on a thin thread between lustful, thoughtful , honest and death by partisan feuding. I was so happy to see this culture exposé which revels in the fortune to stand without shame for a better life at all times. There is a bit of luck here and there, sometimes too little but not to be dismissed and better, sometimes magic to be embraced.

I thought everything about this documentary was well done. It's an incredible story that I had never heard about. I loved everything about it!