Control Room: The Politics of War
Egyptian-American Film Maker Jehane Noujaim Demystifies Al-Jazeera
Jan 27, 2009
Al-Jazeera (the most popular news channel in the middle east with over 40 million Arab viewers) was launched in 1996 and this observational documentary records the spectrum of opinion that surrounds the Qatar television news network during the Iraq invasion. Most of the film takes place at CentCom, the makeshift media village in Qatar where the United States military presents its version of events to journalists from around the world.
In The Control Room:
This film follows Bush’s threat of invasion through to the toppling of Saddam Hussein and Noujaim intercuts the film around the following key people from Al-Jazeera: Sameer Khader and Deema Khatib (both producers) and a Sudenese journalist, Hassan Ibrahim, who attended American universities and headed the BBC Arab News Service before joining Al Jazeera.
War Reporting:
This film is sympathetic to Al Jazeera and explores issues regarding reporting during wartime. The question of who is controlling the truth is central to this film which looks into the way events are filtered into “news”. Control Room is a document of the very different perspective on the war in Iraq. Al Jazeera showed footage of the bloodied, wounded, mutilated, and the dead - images it says of the true cost of war that were largely absent from American TV. Noujaim’s film raises question such as: ’Can images be propaganda?’ and “ Isn't omission, the failure to report dead civilians or American coffins, equally a distortion of the truth?” In asking these tough questions, the Al-Jazeera reporters interviewed also admit to bias.
An Observational Documentary:
This film uses a fly-on-the-wall technique to observe the Al Jazeera journalists (and other media organisations journalists) as they record stories and interact with the U.S. military media spokespersons. The main commentator on behalf of Al Jazeera is the senior producer Sameer Khader. Dialogue between the two organisations Al Jazeera and the US Central Command is embodied in the conversations between two individuals Hassan Ibrahim and the American press officer Lt. Rushing. Their conversations centre around conflict and dialogue, agenda’s and images and we were privy to many debates (and briefings) about neutrality and objectivity.
Draw Your Own Conclusions:
Although Noujaim refuses to comment or editorialise, the implied truth is that the Al Jazeera net work is neither ‘Osama bin Laden’s mouthpiece’ (as Donald Rumsfeld claimed) nor Anti-American. We are presented with filmic evidence that Al Jazeera is keen to show both sides of an argument and engage in lots of discussion, including the airing of an American perspective. One example of goodwill expressed towards the American people was the comment made by the journalist, Hassan Ibrahim, who says philosophically, “I have faith that the American people will stop this war.”
This direct cinema documentary chronicles the working methods of the Al Jazeera news agency during the prelude and beginnings of the Iraq War without voice over narration. Instead, commentary is provided by the conversations between Ibrahim and Lt Rushing as well as key Al Jazeera figures and war coverage news footage and TV excerpts of Bush and Rumsfeld. The drama in this documentary comes from the observations of people in interviews where we hear from all sides in the conflict. The deliberately impersonal and observational style of this film immerses the viewer in the events as they happen and Noujaim leaves conclusions to be drawn by the audience.
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