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Memorable, crazy movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Let's face facts folks, especially at this point if not the should-have-been start: American invaded a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. This isn't the core message of Control Room, but it's certainly all encompassing for what Jehane Noujaim wants to say in her documentary Control Room. The argument could be made- and of course has- that Al Jezeera is a militant television network playing to an Arab base, that it shows people damning America all the time and praising Alah and so on and so forth. For the latter I can't say how much is truly shown, even by the documentary's scope. But for the former, the context can't be taken lightly: whether or not it is propagandistic isn't quite the point. When a country gets attacked by another country, it's hard to continue to find praise for the offensive side (and, as we see later in the film, Al-Jezeera was attacked by American planes specifically). Is her perspective meant to show bias? Maybe, maybe not. It's there in plain sight, how much to s*** things went following the American invasion, and yet side has to be taken into question, media, military, civilian.There's plenty of questions to ask by the end of the film, even in a form that isn't with the best production values or the firmest visual hold. Control Room is also terrifying in hindsight- if this is where we were at in going into Iraq (I saw this film in cinemas as the time one week before Fahrenheit 9/11 was released), what about today? It might be even more intriguing to see a follow-up documentary to Control Room, where one sees what has happened some half a decade (and deceased hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives later and thousands of Americans) down the line. But for now, it's a story set in the midst of a conflict established by the Americans to get Sadaam Hussein out of power - and thus throwing the country into a tailspin. And all throughout we're put through the prism of media, of inquiry, of a search for the facts in the midst of two systems shown in the film: American journalism (we see American military interviewed) and Arab journalism, and each side in dialog and argument, with location footage interspersed.In a way it's a dense film in just its 84 minutes. This might be Noujaim's main strength is the accumulation of points of view, of perspectives. It's not just pat a statement to make that Control Room takes the side of the Iraqi's and that's it. There's also accountability taken in. There's an fascinating cross-section that reveals some of Bush's hypocrisy (not hard to do, and there's such an abundance, but just one instance for example), where Bush says that "the people of Iraq will control their own destiny... they will not just say they were following orders." Cut to some footage of Americans, in possible dire straits, being asked by Iraqi's why they're in Iraq. "I'm just following orders," they all say. Is it America, or just Bush? Is it just Sadaam, or a whole mix of Iraqi's that have to be seen through the prism of the media coverage? What is really propaganda? Control Room, ultimately, isn't the greatest of documentaries, mostly in a form that bounces around with the only structure with Bush at the start with his message of "watch out, Iraq, we're attacking now!" to the disgusting message on the Aircraft carrier at the end. But it is an important one, almost like an early, crucial appendage to the more recent No End in Sight. If only for a moment can we have a view into the first huge cluster-f*** of the century, Control Room has a purpose.

A few things I found interesting with Al Jazerra that this film brought out. One was a scene where one of the Al Jazerra reporters see's an old colleague from the BBC and then the BBC employee asked the Al Jazerra reported who he was working for, he indicated Al Jazerra - the BBC reported responded "Of Course you are". We find out most of Al Jazeera are former BBC employees. Why is that interesting, well if one has ever seen BBC reporting and it's tainted way in delivering facts, one can see where Al Jazeera learned it's style. Unfortunately, the reporters for Al Jazeera and it's editorial/management was like listening to sophomore journalist majors in college. Now, I can't give a proper assessment of the intellect of the average Arab, but the people in this film representing Al Jazeera were not impressive with there arguments. They were clearly against US policy with Iraq War, however they never addressed the real problems in the Middle East Region. Al Jazerra unknowingly became a mouthpiece and support of corrupt Muslim leaders.The second scene was near the end of the file where the female producer was in shock of the reaction of the Iraqi's in Baghdad after the fall of Saddam. She (then later the senior editor and another person who I was not able to identify but was a employee of Al Jazeera) were quick with conspiracy theories. That the people bringing down Saddam statue were actors and that the people celebrating were Kurds - as if Arabs couldn't be happy with the removal of Saddam. Ironically, which news agency was the first to report from a Saddam Hussein rally - Al Jazeera. Talk about a staged event - I believe any protest or rally in the Arab world is staged but Al Jazeera has no problem reporting them with seriousness of any news event.I came away with the idea Al Jezeera is not a bad thing but was run by people that simply not qualified or "bright enough" to do a good fair job. However, it is worth watching to get another view and help understand how others think. I think most people who watch this file will see that Al Jezeera does preach a double standard but will never own up to it. I don't think they come close to reaching the journalistic standards of most western world.

Dear IMDb:I found no other way to do this, so I'm using the "review" feature to do it: I couldn't remember the name of this film for many minutes (almost an hour) and I used your "keywords" and so on... but I couldn't draw up "Contol Room" that way.. Even when I typed in "iraq," or "Iraq War," I didn't get Control Room as one of the films on your data base. Now, I know that "key word" is not the same as, say, "Subject Heading" in a Library... but, it still bothers me, that key word means (evidently) nothing more than "one of the words of the title.." So, for example, if I was interested in Austrailia's history in the first World War, I could type in all those words into the key words option, but my search wouldn't come up with "Gallipoli," because that isn't a key word?In short: is there no way to have a "subject search" as part of your searching options? (And if not, why not?)Yours,Jerry Dyer

The act of war has been taking place for thousands of years. Over these years the goal has always remained the same; to win. To achieve victory one use to have to be the biggest, strongest, and most powerful. The rule has been that the country with the most fire power generally is the most successful. Now while this is still usually the case, there is a relatively new weapon that has begun to level the playing field. It is a weapon that most all countries have access to and can affect millions in minutes. It is a weapon that can moralize, enlighten, destroy, and confuse a nation. It is a weapon of the people. This powerful weapon is TV news; one of the leading tools in warfare today.Control Room is a film that captures the role of the media and TV news in the art of modern war. The film focuses on the Al Jazeera news network, the most popular and controversial news network in the Middle East. The documentary showcases the influence and usage of propaganda, both U.S. and Arab, in the Iraqi War. The film does this by interviewing Al Jazeera reporters and staff. Interviews with U.S. soldiers also make their way into the movie. Two sides to the story are always presented, often with argument. Some of the most interesting parts of the film are when an Al Jazeera reporter and a U. S. soldier discuss propaganda aspects of the war. Both have solid arguments and valid points. Their discussions reveal the fact that propaganda is not secret and it isn't something that the media and military is in denial about. In fact the film acknowledges that much of the war is fought through the TV using propaganda.Some of the most compelling images in the film are of the Iraqi people. Images of women and children crying, bleeding, and cursing the U.S. leave a lasting impact. Are these images real? Or were they created or misused to stir up certain emotions in the Arab world? These are the kinds of questions that Control Room has you asking. The film also examines American propaganda, such as in the event of Saddam's statue being torn down. Everyone has seen the footage of one of Saddam's giant statues being torn down by the Iraqi people and an American flag being raised. Were all those young guys just sitting around in the square at that certain moment carrying a U.S flag? Or did the U.S. army plant them there and give them an American flag to fly? Either way, what the world saw were images of the Iraqi people tearing down the statue of their leader. They were images that created a sense of victory for the United States.It is the images of war that are so powerful, emotional, and disturbing. But it is also the images of war that we need to be leery of. People tend to think pictures and videos equal proof and it's these beliefs that the TV news stations are counting on. Control Room brings this to our attention. Straight from the mouths of the reporters and soldiers come the details and levels of the propaganda. The reasons behind certain images and footage becomes clear. Millions of Arabs throughout the Middle East watch Al Jazeera, believe in it, and trust it. The power it holds is incredible."They are trying to manage the news in an unmanageable situation", is one of the most captivating quotes of the movie and is spoken by a fed up Al Jazeera news reporter. This quote sums up the message of Control Room. The TV news is no longer just reporting the news, they are managing it. News no longer just happens, it is created. This is a growing concern, and one that David Perlmutter writes about in his essay entitled "Living-Room Wars". Perlmutter comments on how wars are now fought on large part by the media and on TV. The misconception that we are getting the straight and true facts when we watch the news is huge problem. Viewers hold a false perception of how informed they are. When viewers see footage of something they tend to believe that the footage they are seeing is the same as what they are being told it is. Perlmutter discusses how this isn't always the case and certain footage is often chosen to entice certain emotions. Control Room gives us a sense of how strong these emotions can be and the levels of propaganda that can accompany them. It is a movie that makes you think about modern war and how much of what you know about it is actually true.