Control Room is a documentary that looks at the way al Jazeera, the Arab news station, has covered the Iraq war. It opened my eyes to another perspective in a way that no other movie before it has. I now realize that I had many preconceived notions about what I thought the evil al Jazeera was all about.
The movie starts shortly before the war on Iraq begins. It features a number of the staff of al Jazeera but the two most compelling (and they are very compelling) are Samir Khader, the general manager running al Jazeera, and Hassan Ibrahim, a reporter for al Jazeera. When the war finally does begin, most of the film takes place in the confines of a press complex where all of the major news sources hang out (including Fox, CNN, NBC, etc.).
There were a few things that absolutely stood out as more than beautiful in the movie:
- Lt. Josh Rushing, an American serviceman who is tasked with PR of sorts for the war, is vulnerably honest. In one scene he describes how awkward it feels that one night he sees a bunch of dead Arab civilians and military personnel and goes on about his business. The very next night he saw the pictures of the dead American military personnel and he was enraged and passionate.
What troubled him is he didn't react the same way to both scenes.
- At one point in the movie, an American military spokesperson whose last name was Brooks, came out and showed a deck of cards with the 55 (I don't know why it's not 52) most wanted enemy military personnel that they were giving out to as many U.S. personnel as possible. A media rep asked for a sample deck. Mr. Brooks said he would make them available but couldn't give them a deck. Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Did you know that Marine Lt Josh Rushing ended up getting out of the military and now works for...Al Jazeera?
2 - Tim Taylor
I didn't know that but I think it's beautiful. He seems like an extraordinarily gifted and special individual.
3 - Scott
This is a great and extremely revealing documentary. It definitely changed my whole perspective on Al-Jazeera and it definitely made me think about American media outlets too.
4 - Chris Beaumont
This was an excellent film, and I hate to be a bit of a stickler, but the name is just Control Room, no 'The'
5 - Tim Taylor
You're right, I don't know if I can change it but you aren't being a stickler at all, I have the movie wrong. I'm not sure if I can change it or not.
6 - Brian Sorrell
This is a fantastic film, and it is instructive to point out that in the control room, they speak English and that much of the management came from BBC. The aJ perspective is not what it is made out to be in the popular American media.
7 - Tim Taylor
Without question Brian. I've been telling people about how much I like this film and the responses I get when I tell them it's about al Jazeera TV is interesting to say the least.
I was and we have been collectively brainwashed to call them evil when they appear to be as or more balanced than most of our own news networks.