A gripping, verité-style documentary that humanizes the Al Jazeera TV network and offers a unique perspective on the Iraq war, capturing the inner workings of the Qatar-based network in the days leading up to and the first days of the war. By the way, could we Americans please stop pronouncing Qatar as Gutter?
Director Jehane Noujaim shows us smart, articulate journalists and producers who believe their job is to show all sides of the war. So when the Bush administration and U.S. military blast Al Jazeera for airing gut-wrenching video of Iraqi civilians, including children, killed or injured by the bombardment, producer Samir Khader shoots back saying wants to show war's human toll.
It's a valid point, considering U.S. networks never felt the need to show us the real war, relying mostly on reporters embedded with U.S. troops to give us a terribly sanitized war with a jingoistic spin. Ultimately, the human cost of this war - something American networks don't seem to care much about - is what's most tragic about it.
But Al Jazeera must be doing something right if U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld accuses it "of playing propaganda over and over and over again" and Saddam Hussein's information minister calls the network a pro-American propaganda machine.
Yes, there's an Al Jazeera translator who mocks George W. Bush as he watches footage of the president. But Khader, journalist Hassan Ibrahim, who's blessed with a charmingly cynical sense of humor - just listen to his "Yankee Doodle" ditty, and others are no fans of Saddam. They believe in America's ideals, not its leaders. When someone dejectedly asks, "Who will stop the United States," Ibrahim replies, "The United States is going to stop the United States. I have absolute confidence in the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. people."
What Al Jazeera does is no different than what Fox News Channel does in the U.S. Even U.S. military spokesman Lt. Josh Rushing remarks in the film, "It benefits Al Jazeera to play to Arab nationalism because that's their audience, just like Fox plays to American patriotism, for the exact same reason - American nationalism." Rushing, who is incisive, earnest and eloquent, exemplifies that paradox by candidly admitting he wasn't as revolted when he saw shots of Iraqi civilian casualties as he was when Al Jazeera aired footage of dead American servicemen.
"Control Room" shows invading Iraq with no post-war plan - a U.S. soldier tells reporters Iraqi civilians should have prevented the anarchy that immediately followed Saddam's toppling; and with little understanding of Muslim culture and mores - male American soldiers barging into Iraqi households and rousing Muslim women - do nothing to win hearts and minds. I wish there'd been footage of U.S. soldiers helping Iraqis, not only to provide a balance at that point, but also to get Arab journalists' reactions.
Noujaim finds humor, poignancy - it's impossible not to be moved by the death of Al Jazeera correspondent Tarek Ayyoub, killed by U.S. planes under questionable circumstances; and raises some intriguing points, including seemingly valid questions about the authenticity of celebrations surrounding the toppling of Saddam's statue.
Maybe Noujaim was lucky or it was purely coincidental, but the passage of time gives new meaning to some moments in "Control Room" we see Bush telling reporters he expects American POWs to be treated as humanely as we're treating Iraqi prisoners; and Rumsfeld saying of Al Jazeera, "We're dealing with people who are perfectly willing to lie to the world to attempt to further their case." Oh, how easily those words could today be applied at home.
Director Jehane Noujaim shows us smart, articulate journalists and producers who believe their job is to show all sides of the war. So when the Bush administration and U.S. military blast Al Jazeera for airing gut-wrenching video of Iraqi civilians, including children, killed or injured by the bombardment, producer Samir Khader shoots back saying wants to show war's human toll.
It's a valid point, considering U.S. networks never felt the need to show us the real war, relying mostly on reporters embedded with U.S. troops to give us a terribly sanitized war with a jingoistic spin. Ultimately, the human cost of this war - something American networks don't seem to care much about - is what's most tragic about it.
But Al Jazeera must be doing something right if U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld accuses it "of playing propaganda over and over and over again" and Saddam Hussein's information minister calls the network a pro-American propaganda machine.
Yes, there's an Al Jazeera translator who mocks George W. Bush as he watches footage of the president. But Khader, journalist Hassan Ibrahim, who's blessed with a charmingly cynical sense of humor - just listen to his "Yankee Doodle" ditty, and others are no fans of Saddam. They believe in America's ideals, not its leaders. When someone dejectedly asks, "Who will stop the United States," Ibrahim replies, "The United States is going to stop the United States. I have absolute confidence in the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. people."
What Al Jazeera does is no different than what Fox News Channel does in the U.S. Even U.S. military spokesman Lt. Josh Rushing remarks in the film, "It benefits Al Jazeera to play to Arab nationalism because that's their audience, just like Fox plays to American patriotism, for the exact same reason - American nationalism." Rushing, who is incisive, earnest and eloquent, exemplifies that paradox by candidly admitting he wasn't as revolted when he saw shots of Iraqi civilian casualties as he was when Al Jazeera aired footage of dead American servicemen.
"Control Room" shows invading Iraq with no post-war plan - a U.S. soldier tells reporters Iraqi civilians should have prevented the anarchy that immediately followed Saddam's toppling; and with little understanding of Muslim culture and mores - male American soldiers barging into Iraqi households and rousing Muslim women - do nothing to win hearts and minds. I wish there'd been footage of U.S. soldiers helping Iraqis, not only to provide a balance at that point, but also to get Arab journalists' reactions.
Noujaim finds humor, poignancy - it's impossible not to be moved by the death of Al Jazeera correspondent Tarek Ayyoub, killed by U.S. planes under questionable circumstances; and raises some intriguing points, including seemingly valid questions about the authenticity of celebrations surrounding the toppling of Saddam's statue.
Maybe Noujaim was lucky or it was purely coincidental, but the passage of time gives new meaning to some moments in "Control Room" we see Bush telling reporters he expects American POWs to be treated as humanely as we're treating Iraqi prisoners; and Rumsfeld saying of Al Jazeera, "We're dealing with people who are perfectly willing to lie to the world to attempt to further their case." Oh, how easily those words could today be applied at home.