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Humming with the over-the-top energy of its loquacious frontman, Scream of My Blood: A Gogol Bordello Story tells the dizzying, picaresque tale of Eugene Hütz, a Ukrainian raconteur turned globe-trotting rock star (rock friends like Steve Albini and Iggy Pop show up to say good things). It’s an immigrant story, and Hütz and other band members speak in depth about the cultural roots of their music, while Hütz in particular draws attention to his Romani family members and the influence that community has on him. The doc wisely mixes live-music footage with Hütz’s astonishing biography, which touches on the Chernobyl disaster, the fall of the Soviet empire, emigration to America, teenage years on the punk scene in Burlington, and the building of his band, Gogol Bordello, on the Lower East Side of New York City. Speaking of Burlington, Hütz recalls being taken aback by the small-town vibe at first, but cites it as crucial to his development. Vermont audiences will be taken by the (brief) bits of archival footage of the Burlington and the 242 Main punk-rock scene that thrived there in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But the concert footage explains Hütz and the band’s appeal more than words could – raucous, barely in control, on the razor’s edge between euphoria and disaster…it’s thrilling stuff. ~SM
***After the film: a performance by Eugene Hütz of Gogol Bordello***