I've always been skeptical of musicians or actors or anyone famous getting involved in world affairs and politics. On the one hand, I can understand their need to use their celebrity for something more than just endorsing products and are hoping that they can bring increased visability to the issues that they find important. But, I can't help but feel like they are being vaguely hypocritical, as they seem unwilling to give up many of their creature comforts and money to further support the people and issues that mean so much to them.

Case in point: at an early point in this movie, the bassist for System of a Down, Shavo Odadjian, is lamenting to his bandmates about how he doesn't like to fly and would much rather have his own tour bus to get between gigs in. I couldn't help but think: "Here is a man putting his name and celebrity behind those people who are without homes and food in developing countries, and he's complaining about not having an entire bus of his own to shuttle around the country in?"

The entirety of this DVD filled me with so many of these mixed messages. A great deal of the film is taken up with discussions of genocide in our world, starting with a history lesson about the Armenian genocide in Turkey that began in 1915 and working through those terrible moments in history that have caused the deathof millions. There is talking head interviews with former Senate aides and historians and activists who all wonder how, in an age when news reaches across the world in the matter of minutes, we could still sit back and let the tragedies in Rwanda and Darfur go on.

I feel like those questions were answered pretty early on in the film, with a montage of shots of concertgoers entering a huge arena to see SOAD perform. One gent stares at the camera, throws up devil horns and says, "Rock 'n' Roll." Two girls talk about how they are going to just freak out and probably flash their breasts at the band. These are, apparently, your typical rock fans, who are just there to have a good time and most likely do not want to be preached to about the wrongs of our world.

On the other hand, there are plenty of interviews with fans whose eyes have been opened by the band through the messages in their lyrics and through their frank discussions about the effects of what happened in Armenia had on their families. Odadjian in particular has a very moving moment where (in his personal tour bus) he talks about how he has no family tree because everyone in his lineage other than his grandparents were killed.

I still can't help but wonder what this film, and this band, is hoping to acheive here. My hope is that, by using the music and the footage of System of a Down, they can use the film to engage youth who will be enlightened and become politically and socially active in calling for the end to atrocities like the ones shown in such stark detail here. I fear though that too many people will spend their time riding the fast forward button on their remotes, looking to get to the next piece of perfomance footage and avoid the rest.