Control Room

Rating:
Summary: "Fair and balanced" documentary about Al-Jazeera
Review: Al-Jazeera was decried as a mouthpiece of Arab dictators by Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush during the first days of the Iraq "liberation." Almost as a reaction, Jehane Noujaim has made a behind the scenes documentary of Al-Jazeera, which is actually as despised by Arab despots as it is by the United States.
The workers at Al-Jazeera are like reporters everywhere: chain-smoking, overworked, and neurotic. And, as presented here, they are hardly the hate-mongering propagandists that Donald Rumsfeld describes. They have an anti-American bias for sure, but as one Al-Jazeera employee asks, can any reporter truly be unbiased? Many of them display a wonderful sense of humor and a sharp journalistic eye.
Memorable characters emerge. One is Lt. Josh Rushing, an articulate U.S. military "communications" envoy, who is articulate and thoughtful as he admits that in a warzone, "spin" is inevitable. (As an interesting footnote, Rushing eventually resigned from his position under pressure because he apparently showed too much empathy towards the "other side," although his views remain pro-American.) The producer of AL-Jazeera is the chain-smoking, neurotic Samir Khader, who dabbles with the idea of sending his kids to the U.S. for college. Al-Jazeera workers seem ethnically diverse, a potent reminder that "Arab" is a language rather than a uniform race. There are surprisingly, many modern, professional women at Al-Jazeera, who are clearly in management positions. Deema Khatib is a particularly charming young woman with an enchanting smile.
This documentary of course has a bias itself: Noujaim clearly bonded with both Rushing and the Al-Jazeera crew, and she presents the simplistic platitudes of the American politicians very negatively. But the overall documentary eventually becomes Rashamon-like. Who's telling the "truth"? Is there even one "truth"? The toppling of Saddam's statue is one example: it seems like a spontaneous event in American news, but Al-Jazeera suspects it's staged. Deema says "If you notice, the guys are all kind of the same age." Who's right? It's hard to say.
The dvd is packed with bonuses, including deleted scenes and commentary tracks by both Noujaim and some of the personalities in the documentary.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: Having spent a bit of time in the Middle East myself I found the representation of the channel quite adequate. Indeed, nothing is taboo for Al Jazeerah and often it is a thorn in the eye of the Arab leaders. Al Jazeerah is not afraid to shine a critical light on everything from American Imperialism to the corrupt house of Saud to Syrian oppression.

I am not sure about the count of viewers that the channel reaches but there was not one home in the Middle East that I visited that did not have access to it. Albeit a satellite channel one needs to keep in mind that literally all Arab households use satellite reception.

Watching Al Jazeerah is fascinating. For a U.S. citizen who is used to sanitized hypocritical abstract talking-head news blurbs carefully avoiding upsetting the corporate sponsorship, Al Jazeerah is raw. If CNN is Barry Manilow then Al Jazeerah is Motorhead.

Besides relating the rush of real news coverage (as opposed to the regurgitation of military propaganda exercized by the U.S. corporate media) the DVD was fair if you took the time and watched the extras which featured specific individuals appearing in the movie. It made an attempt to tell all sides of the story.

It is saddening that Lt. Josh Rushing, the express sympathetic U.S. military press liason (who appeared to sincerely believe in what he spoke no matter how one would judge its truthfulness) lost his job over the film (He appeared later on Pacifica Station Democracy Now! to tell his story).

Al Jazeerah broadcasts very few commercials and is primarily financed by one of the leading elite in Qatar (not quite sure how and why). The film failed to explore this matter.

Still, by some it is considered as too moderate. Recently it has received competition by a new mega news channel called Al Arabiya.

The film is sure to be an eye-opener for an American audience that associates the Arab world with Ben Hur or gun-toting hooded Hamas. Al Jazeerah employs some of the sharpest, most intellectual minds I have run across.

This is a second copy I am buying to hand out.

Rating:
Summary: Revealing documentary, but not without bias
Review: I liked seeing the human faces and life stories behind the personalities at Al-Jazeera, but I saw a such a homogenous Arab interpretation of world events in that studio that it's unlikely they'll ever report a story the same way we would in the West. They believe passionately in the news business, and they've done some compelling reports on several topics--including corruption within Arab regimes-- but their disproportionate coverage of Israeli "massacres" and America's "zionist-inspired occupation of the region" gets old after a while. I don't agree that they're a mouthpiece for Al-Qaida, but they have an unwavering point of view which colors their reporting of the news. You could say the same about Fox News, too, but understand there are a dozen networks and cable news channels in the United States, providing a healthy diversity of opinion and reporting. In the mideast, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya are pretty much it, and Al-Jazeera dominates. Therefore, to the majority of Arab viewers, what they see on Al-Jazeera must be true.

Kudos to Jehane Noujaim for not narrating--and thus editorializing--the film. She took a careful neutral stance, gave sufficient air time to the US military press officer, and let Al-Jazeera's people speak for themselves. In the end, though, I was left wanting more. I won't comment on the right or wrong of the US invasion of Iraq, but I've seen enough of Al-Jazeera in this documentary to know that they'll look the other way when Arab citizens commit atrocities. CBS didn't when it broke the story of America's abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

Bottom line, Al-Jazeera is an ambitious, hard-working news outlet, but they fail to provide that news with any meaningful context or opposing viewpoints. This documentary only reinforces that opinion.

Rating:
Summary: Important as Americans to Understand..
Review: I think that Control Room is an important piece of film that shows the Arab world's side of the Iraq invasion....It is important as Americans to understand this point-of-view...Control Room leaves you begging for more than just the first 30 days of the Iraq Invasion...All this footage we never see is important to see..There is more truth and honesty in this documentary from the Al-jazeera network than what is shown on American television about this "conflict" from CNN or FOXnews...When you see the conversations between Hassan Ibrahim (former BBC now Al-Jazeera journalist)and Lt. Josh Rushing (US Army officer) it is some of the most enlightening moments and at the same time sad to watch this American like you and me see the other side of it all.....I hope enough people see this film..I love it because it is not a American bashing documentary...It is no more slanted towards the Arab World than CNN is in the U.S.....The difference is in the fact that the Al-Jezeera network gladly allows Western point-of-view on their network to explain their actions....see for yourself at what this network really is: http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage ...We as Americans, the strongest force in the world need to understand the Arab World, for our own good and for theirs...

And please remember Tarik Ayoub, the Al-Jezeera journalist that died from an obvious deliberate airstrike from the U.S....

Rating:
Summary: Believed it until I saw the interview with Saddam's sons.
Review: I too thought this was a good video, nice to see that some media were above stuff. Really thought it was incredible watching when America rolled into Baghdad adn though also from the reactions and comments that something was up. Now we know why. In a released video, the guy running the show over there in Al-Jazeera is shown talking to Saddam's son ( A vile man) and telling him not to worry that Al-Jazeera is their network (Saddam's). This video has lost all credibility for me, just like Michael Moore's F911. Both are lies sold for mass consumption to people that want to believe that America is wrong and evil.

Rating:
Summary: Deema Khatib is beautiful
Review: I wonder if anyone else really enjoyed seeing a little of the thoughtful, nuanced Arab world for a change. In my opinion, the best thing about this film are the Arab men and women it features. I was inspired, as a western Canadian with little personal contact with the Arab world, by the workers at Al-Jezeerah. I do not agree with everything they said, but I know it would be a great pleasure to listen to more of what they have to say. Especially to Deema Khatib (what a charming smile she has).

One thing that struck me about the Arab men and women in "Control Room" was their tendency to smile or laugh even while commenting on something truly disturbing. It seemed to reflect a kind of self-consciousness on their part. In particular, it conveys what I imagine to be their sense of the futility of their own words in the face of an American military controlled by an almost-unbelievably parochial administration. It seems as if, knowing that futility, they give themselves liberty to express their philosophical remarks in that laughing way. By laughing they cast themselves as the sensitive intellectuals and the Americans as the absurd hypocrites. Yes, their words moved me - especially combined with the words of the wife of the Al-Jezeerah journalist killed by an American bomb. I am just trying to make sense of the tendency of the Al-Jezeerah workers to speak in aphorisms and then follow up their words with smiles and shrugs. Are they really so wise and the Americans so clumsily self-serving?

Of course, it is gratifying as a Canadian to see those dramatic contrasts: the articulate Arabs speaking profound truths which expose the crude hypocrisy of George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld. Isn't my own reaction, to comfortably position myself behind Canada's non-participation in the war, another small instance of the real psychological root of this war: the powerful attachment of each individual to the society with which they self-identify?

In any case, this is a film which any liberal North American can enjoy without embarassment (not something which can be said about, say, Fahrenheit 9/11). The Al-Jezeerah workers allow themselves a couple of small "conspiracy theory" speeches, but this film is not a barrage of sensationalism like something by Michael Moore. It is much more about the psychology of this mess, rather than about placing blame. This makes the film a fascinating series of portraits. After we are shown a tender moment Hassan Ibrahim shares with his son, I couldn't help but see Ibrahim's sometimes jovial, sometimes condescending way of speaking as somewhat fatherly: as if he were saying "children,children ... oh, if only we were all a little more grown up (sigh)". Khatib, in a deleted scene shot inside her car, talks seriously about the injustice of the war and then at the end of the drive declares that it is the Arab world's own fault for being "asleep". That kind of dramatic self-contradiction was like something a university student might do to impress her interlocutors during a late-night conversation. But, oh, she must have broken some hearts back at the international school.

Rating:
Summary: "The American media were hijacked."
Review: The documentary "Control Room" is a behind-the-scenes look at al-Jazeera, the largest all-news Arabic television station. Al-Jazeera was formed in 1996, and its office is located in Qatar. Since the beginning of the Iraqi war, the number of al-Jazeera's viewers has doubled. In other words, if you are an Arab, and you are watching footage of the war, there's an excellent chance that you are watching al-Jazeera's coverage. The film's main focus is al-Jazeera's coverage of the Iraqi war, and the film begins in 3/03 with Bush's televised announcement that Saddam Hussein and his sons need to leave Iraq--or else.

Curiously enough, Qatar is also the base of operations for the U.S. Central-Command (Cen-Com), and right next door is the Coalition Media Centre. Qatar is located about 700 miles from Baghdad, and all of the major news stations have offices inside the Coalition Media Centre. Some of the film's footage shows reporters from various stations summoned for press releases that are delivered by a military officer. The film illustrates the frustrations felt by the reporters who gather in one room to get the low-down on the news that is taking place hundreds of miles away. For example--one of the announcements concerns a pack of cards--featuring America's 'most wanted' Iraqis. The reporters are eager to look at the pack and identify the villains, but there's a catch. There's only one pack of cards in Cen-Com, and although the general offered to let the journalists take a look at them when he flashed them at the news conference, bottom line--the general won't part with his pack of cards--even though a horde of journalists crowd around his office and demand a look.

Spokesperson, Marine Lt. Josh Rushing presents an earnest, human face to the al-Jazeera reporters and to the world. He confesses that he found the footage of the American military dead aired by al-Jazeera very distressing, but at the same time, he realizes that his reactions to the footage of the Iraqi dead failed to cause such an emotional reaction. From this observation, Lt. Rushing comprehends that Arabs observing footage of their dead are just as distressed as he is when he sees dead Americans.

As for al-Jazeera, "the mouthpiece of Osama Bin Laden" (according to the Bush administration), they are not content to show the war through a system of press releases. They air footage of bodies--some severely wounded children, flattened buildings, and Iraqis screaming their grief at the camera. These scenes are the reality of war. People die. But in America, an entirely different picture is painted. The American media's presentation is, as Deema Khatib, an al-Jazeera producer comments "like an American movie." Rumsfeld accuses al-Jazeera of faking photos of the wounded. According to Rumsfeld, when they know a bomb is about to hit "they grab some children and some women and pretend the bomb hit the women and children." Al-Jazeera responds to charges that they incite the Arab world with photos of the dead and wounded by saying:
"war has a human cost." Just what are the ethics of showing the footage of the casualties of war? Should the media sanitize the war and serve it up in a series of carefully orchestrated photo-op moments (like the majority of the American Press)? Is al-Jazeera inciting the Arab world by showing the footage of the dead and wounded, or is al-Jazeera morally obligated to show these gruesome images to the world?

This eye-opening documentary includes moment of shames when an al-Jazeera reporter is killed in what appears to be a deliberate targeting by an American bomber. Another shocking element of the documentary is the way in which the al-Jazeera reporters catch things that the Americans reporters don't. Scenes of the invasion of Baghdad, the toppling of Sadaam's statue, the Kurds destroying money, and children chanting hate messages to Bush are all subject to vitally different interpretations. In other words--what we see here in America is not what the Arab world sees, and furthermore we so often interpret things incorrectly simply because we do not understand. Similarly, just as Lt. Rushing insists that Palestine and Iraq are two different things, al-Jazeera reporter, Hassan Ibrahim tries to explain the two conflicts are tied in the Arab world. Can we ever understand the Arab point of view, or are we simply not interested in understanding it?

"Control Room" is a fascinating glimpse at a world that we rarely see. Al-Jazeera is full of dedicated journalists--some in traditional clothing, and some very Westernized (I noticed that none of those in traditional dress spoke to the cameras). If you are interested in the role of the media in this war, or the ethics of journalism, I recommend watching the excellent documentary "Control Room"--displacedhuman


Rating:
Summary: Great idea squashed with lame filmmaking.
Review: This documentary had an amazing amount of potential to really dive into the workings of Al Jazeera, but only turned out to be a camera following around a couple of reporters, and lazy editing to make a thesis-less, sloppy documentary. I know it tried to expose Al Jazeera as biased news, but it didn't go into depth like it could have. This is a super amateur attempt at documentary, but just because you have a good idea and some self shot footage, doesn't mean you have a good documentary. Check out Spellbound, or Fog of War, or Fast Cheap and Out of Control for a good documentary.

Rating:
Summary: US Propaganda and Al Jezerra
Review: this is a magnificent DVD. It demonstrates the lies and orchstrations behind the IRAQ "war" through the eyes of one of the most open and democratic news networks in the world today - Al Jezerra. We have been led to beleieve that this network is headed by barbarians - yet in the interviews with the producers and directors of this most popular Arab television network - the viewer can readily see that we have been lied to and that the TRUTH is that the folks who run Al Jezerra network are not only more intelligent than most of us they are objective and tell ALL the story. Rumsfeld interviews and Bush's "Mission Accomplished speech are seen for what they really are - cartoon cutouts of lying war mongers. Anyone who cares about our democracy must see this DVD and Pass it on.

Rating:
Summary: very informative
Review: this movie was boring at times, but it was nice to REALLY learn about
The Middle East's Al-Jazeera network. President Bush had me believing that these people were even more corrupt than the american
and british media. As you'll see in the movie, we could learn a few things from Al Jazeera.