sundog

Looking for anyone who has seen this fascinating documentary, from the director of Startup.com. Jehane Noujaim documents the efforts of Al Jazeera covering the war from U.S. Central Command in Qatar (just a small distance from the broadcaster's headquarters).

It's amazingly balanced and unimposing. She follows a few producers who comment on the U.S. and their actions and Al Jazeera's reactions, not in any bombastic rhetoric but with a cool, thoughtful tone (until the military doublespeak gets too frustrating). It's just a good look at the media war taking place during the real war.

Groucho

They reviewed this on Ebert and Roeper over the weekend. Looks really interesting. I hope to see it soon.

Giles

This was shown last Tuesday at the SilverDocs (AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival) with a panel of guests: Pentagon spokesperson Victoria Clarke, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim and others. The sympsoium sold out real fast, (I wasn't able to attend). Hope to check this out at some point next week.

atlantamoi

Thanks for the tip on this movie. My favorite Netflix rentals always seem to be documentaries ("Stevie" "Sound and Fury")

DVD Smurf

I am intending to see this soon, but something always seems to come between me and the screen time. I am happy to hear that it has been positively received. This forces me to make some time this coming weeks.

Cheers

DVD Smurf

Eeyore

I was finally able to see this one. It is VERY well done and clearly a lot of effort was put in to make it as objective and unbiased as possible. Prior to seeing this all I knew of Al Jazeera was from brief references in the American media making it sound like some extremist propaganda machine. Watching "Control Room," you can't help but think that maybe Al Jazeera was the only truly free press covering the war in Iraq because everyone else unquestioningly reported whatever the US said to report. The interviews with other networks' reporters and the military liasons were also very good. A very human film on an important topic. If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend seeing this one.

Rivero

Pretty good documentary. A bit overlong and repetitive, and most certainly not objective and unbiased. I wish they delved more into . While it makes a good companion piece to Fahrenheit 911, once again everyone plays down the atrocities of Saddam Hussein, a fascist who murdered thousands of Kurds within his own borders. To say that absolutely NOTHING good came from the Iraq war is preposterous. It was interesting to see the reactions of the control room once U.S. troops entered Bagdhad and the Republic Guard was nowhere to be found. You could see all the journalists' faces and hear them thinking, "Where are the troops?? The U.S. are on your own ground!! Defend Baghdad.....kill them!!"

Anyways a fascinating documentary that should be seen.

Eeyore

(Disclaimer: I do NOT want this to veer anywhere near the political morass that rules in the other forum! This post is not an attack on anyone, merely an attempt to discuss the film! I love everyone!)

I am wondering what anyone would think could make this a more objective documentary about Al Jazeera's coverage of the war. It doesn't seem that much material about Hussein's abuses has any place in a documentary about news coverage of the war that begins at the end of Saddams reign. The Al Jazeera reporters openly expressed their strong dislike for Hussein and their agreement that the U.S. had firepower that would easily overcome Iraq's organized militia. The film showed how Al Jazeera aired interviews with U.S. correspondents and tried to interview other americans, rejecting interviews from crackpot conspiracy theorists with anti-american ideas.

The main thing in the film that struck me as somewhat biased was the selection of soundbites of Donald Rumsfeld bashing Al Jazeera--but I REMEMBER those comments being made and they were widely covered here as well. He practically made them a member of the axis of evil--which they certainly didn't deserve. (Al Jazeera's not perfect, but they're not evil incarnate either)

sundog

I think that's an important point the film makes. Noujaim does not hide the biases of Al Jazeera, but tries to temper the fires of outcry by portraying the media war as having dubious intentions on both sides. And on both sides are rational, smart people. Smart people who strive for integrity within systems that demand choosing sides.