Control Room
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Movie Reviews of Control Room
Movie Review: Fair and Balanced?
Summary: 5 Stars
"Control Room" is a documentary about the Arab news channel, Al Jazeera, and its reporting during the 2003 war with Iraq. Al Jazeera is often considered anti-US, anti-Israel and a mouthpiece for the likes of Osama Bin Laden. A contrary view is that Al Jazeera is the first independent, unfettered, professional news channel of the Arab world.
"Control Room" looks at the Iraq war through the eyes of several Al Jazeera journalists. That they are distressed by the easy US conquest of Iraq and the failings of the Arab world is obvious, but they are also human, cynical, and occasionally amusing. By contrast the U.S. military and political figures in the movie appear robotic, with the exception of the young Marine, Lt. Josh Rushing, who at least grasps for reality. "Control Room" tilts toward the Al Jazeera anti-war view, but all in all it's probably more fair and balanced than the coverage of the war by the US networks, which was uninformed, jingoistic, and stage-managed. Truth - or at least information - was more likely to be found on Al Jazeera. (That's an opinion based on being in the region before, during, and after the Iraq War. If you wanted news you turned to Al Jazeera; if you wanted the US official line or a rehash and reinterpretation of what Al Jazeera had already told and showed you, you turned to the US networks or BBC.)
The most powerful part of the film is the story of the alleged targeting of Al Jazeera's Baghdad headquarters by US warplanes and the killing of an Al Jazeera journalist. Also, powerful are the pictures of Iraqi and American casualties of the war - rarely shown on U.S. news programs and Lt. Rushing's tortured, but honest, explanation of his reaction to Al Jazeera's broadcast of pictures of American casualties. (Rushing apparently lost his job in the Marines as a result of his statements in this film, some of which are, heaven-forbid, introspective.)
See this movie. Like it or not, all Americans should be exposed to contrary opinions. It's called democracy, isn't it?
Smallchief
Movie Review: Highlights the complicity of the western media in war atrocities
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a documentary about the 'controversial' (according to the US government and the western media) Arab news channel Al Jazeera.
It consists of filming a number of the senior Al Jazeera news team and following them around. The filming occurred in the lead up and the beginning of the American lead invasion of Iraq (initially described as it's liberation [forgetting that Saddaam Hussein was put into power in a CIA backed coup] by western governments and the western media).
Of particular interest is the 'sparring' that occurs between one of the more 'rotund' members of the Al Jazeera team and the American army propaganda spokesperson. The Al Jazeera person is able to rebutt most of his arguments with authoratative ease.
We are now in the internet age and control of information is becoming more and more difficult. It is all out there, all one has to do is to find it. This film exposes how uncritical the orthodox western media is about 'government authorized material' during war time. The western media is not as objective as it would like to pretend and is complicit in the lies/ommisions that have/have not been circulated about Iraq.
One interesting fact put to bed by the film :
Remember the day when the American troops entered Baghdad? Remember when the statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down by the US army witnessed by a few hundred jubilant Iraqis? Remember how the orthodox media spent hours showing us this footage live (and on their highlight reels) and mostly ignoring the demonstrations by tens of thousands of Iraqis. The orthodox media reported this as a factual event, whilst on the internet news media this was reported as a fiction - a staged event done to placate the western voters. This film shows how the orthodox media was wrong and the unorthodox internet media correct.
And their reward for all of this? Being 'accidentally' bombed by the US army.
Shame on the western media and the zombies that follow it uncritically.
Movie Review: No candy coating
Summary: 5 Stars
Unfortunately, it's prelude to a war and all its atrocities that gives us an in depth and informative look at the Al-Jazeera television network and the attitudes towards America from the Arab world.
There are a number of characters and events in this documentary that will invoke a variety of feelings including sadness, affection, pity, and rage. Although the context of the documentary is the media coverage of a war, there are still some moments of humor. I chuckled during some segments and came close to crying on others. The emotional intensity is high.
The allegation of the 'staging' of the crowd toppling over the statue of Saddam Hussein should make you think about just how far perceptions can be swayed by those in power manipulating news broadcasts and visual images. It also makes one more critical of believing something to be a "truth", just because we saw it on a television news program.
The killing of an Al-Jazeera reporter in one of the first "shock and awe" blasts rightfully creates great sadness and tension among those interviewed from the Al Jazeera station. You can also understand how hard 'objective' reporting from the remaining staff at Al-Jazeera must be after that incident.
The much larger question always remains if "objective" reporting is possible at all. Chances are, if both sides of a controversial issue are irritated with the media coverage, the reporting is being done as objectively and effectively as possible. The truth is often very hard to swallow from both sides.
The notion of banning certain graphic war images on American news broadcasts also makes one wonder what purpose censorship serves.
If we are to truly learn from history, Control Room proposes the truth must be told without censorship and without the candy coating. I hope Control Room finds its way into our high school history curriculum.
Movie Review: Al-Jazeera's Existential Conflict with the Western world
Summary: 5 Stars
Jehane Noujaim's Control Room follows the very secular and anti-American Al-Jazeera journalists as they travel with our military forces during the invasion of Iraq. These non-religious Arabs paradoxically enjoy the benefits of Western Civilization while holding it in utter contempt. Islamic fundamentalism doesn't even slightly interest them. The vast majority attended school in the despised occidental countries. They are the intellectual disciples of ultra-leftists Noam Chomsky and Edward Said. Truth does not exist and everything is relative. The very concept of objectivity is a supposed fiction employed to deceive the dispossessed of the earth. Saddam Hussein may have been a monster who enslaved and tortured his people---but he is still an Arab leader. The reporters of Al-Jazeera have a difficult time cheering on the coalition soldiers who are about to liberate Iraq. One woman even blurts out that she doesn't know who to favor in the conflict. Bitterness and envy best explains their attitude. The Arab world is today a third rate power. Little remains of its dominance of some five hundred years ago. Existential anguish and self pity underpins the mindset of Al-Jazeera's editorial policy and news reporting.
Control Room is a must see documentary. It is necessary to view our enemies up close and personal. And yes, Al-Jazeera is a foe of all that is good and decent. This news organization will continue to do much harm until its employees overcome their inferiority complex. Ataturk warned the Arab world that there is little sense in competing against the West. On the contrary, it is best to become part of it. Control room easily earns five stars. It is also highly recommended that you read Bernard Lewis' What Went Wrong: Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response. This superb work will greatly help you comprehend Al-Jazeera's indulgence in near nihilistic behavior.
Movie Review: an unmissable documentary
Summary: 5 Stars
Pretty amusing to read comments here about this film being "poorly made". I'd be very curious to hear what the authors of such criticism of CONTROL ROOM consider a "well-made" documentary.
This film can be summed up quite perfectly by a quote featured prominently in it, spoken by one of the al-Jazeera technicians interviewed: "this word, 'objectivity', is a mirage". Using this quote as a jumping off point to look at the film as whole, one immediately sees that it is a brilliant work, as "balanced" as a documentary can be on such a subject as the war against Iraq and the entire spectrum of media's coverage of same (not just al-Jazeera's). One of the strengths of this terrific film is that it its editing is, in large part, invisible. Which isn't to say that it isn't crafted, because it is, but it is not strict manipulation (a large part of FAHRENHEIT 911, as with much of Michael Moore's work).
It's a rare non-fiction film these days which goes to great lengths to allow the complexities of discussions to emerge, and CONTROL ROOM does. Sometimes it comes right out of the mouths of those you'd least expect to hear it from, such as (now-former) Captain Josh Rushing, Air Force spokesperson at CENTCOM, who presents a human, conflicted view of the war (a view which is reflective of a massive number of soldiers; so says Rushing in post-film interviews, but you are hardly likely to hear that outside of a film like CONTROL ROOM).
This is not a film of short answers to big questions. It's a nuanced, non-hysterical, non-judgmental work which deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as FAHRENHEIT 911 has had. It ranks up there with the finest verité documentaries of the past decades by the Maysles team, Leacock et al. And it is actually beautifully photographed and edited, even within its modest DV means.