Three years in the making, the 2004 documentary feature Metallica: Some Kind of Monster from acclaimed filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost) provides a fascinating, in-depth portrait of the most successful heavy metal band of all time. In the tradition of such seminal music documentaries as Dont Look Back and Gimme Shelter, this film transcends the conventions of the “rock ’n’ roll movie” genre, trading rock-star posing for truthful introspection. We follow Metallica as they record their Grammy-winning album St. Anger, their first album in over five years.The filmmakers take us inside both the studio and the psyches of the band as they battle their way through communication breakdowns, addiction, a band member’s defection, fatherhood, domestic chaos, and near-total disintegration during the most turbulent period of their twenty-year history. What begins as the documenting of the making of an album becomes an unexpected voyage into the complexities of human relationships and the power of the creative process to exact emotional tolls and, ultimately, to heal the soul.