Control Room (2004)
Directed by Jehane Noujaim, an award-winning Arab-American filmmaker who has lived within and embraced both worlds, Control Room re-examines what is perhaps the pressing question of: "is America radicalizing or stabilizing the Arab world?" By providing a balanced view of Al-Jazeera's presentation of the second Iraq war to their worldwide Arab audience, it calls into question many of the prevailing images and positions offered up by the U.S. news media. (Magnolia Pictures)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Jehane Noujaim
Written By: Jehane Noujaim, Julia Bacha
Starring: Hassan Ibrahim
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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Control Room belongs to 12 collections
1. Female Directors (collaborative: moderated by djross - 90 stars)
2. FIPRESCI Prize (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 14 stars)
3. Journalism (collaborative: moderated by djross - 9 stars)
4. Political documentaries (collaborative: moderated by overrated - 5 stars)
5. Iraq War (collaborative: moderated by iceblox - 2 stars)
6. Television (collaborative: moderated by djross - 1 star)
7. True/False Film Festival (collaborative: moderated by theficionado - 1 star)
8. Next Up (collaborative: moderated by davidysteph)
9. Movies I Saw in Theaters (public: theficionado)
10. Filmspotting Ratings Project: Week 8 (public: PeaceAnarchy)
11. time was (public: rnest)
12. DTC List (public: lineuphere)
Browse the full list of collections
| Date | User | Rating | |
| Feb 21, 2021 |  |
MargusTa | 53 35th |
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This documentary showed us, how different news channels produced opposite news from those times when US invaded Iraq. For investigating journalism, the documentary was pretty weak.
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| Oct 26, 2017 |  |
wetwillies | 75 26th |
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Viewed October 25, 2017.
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| Nov 01, 2014 |  |
redacted | 80 70th |
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I'd like to be a fly on the wall for the pre-press meet briefings those US army spokespeople would have, or even the meetings that create the content for that meeting. The documentary speaks of objectivity but doesn't practice it, displaying a critical summation of the coalition propaganda machine. But, it's rare to get a look at the other side of the coin like this, without already being knee deep in Arab society.
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| Dec 05, 2011 |  |
begoniabol | 79 77th |
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Very interesting doc. Quite depressing and infuriating to watch though
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| Dec 05, 2011 |  |
Barthalen | 77 72nd |
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A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at Al-Jazeera during the (latest) Iraqi war. It shines a new light on some moments I took for granted, and all in all this documentary delivers a pretty balanced account of media coverage during wartime. Prepare for some painful and depressing moments, seeing wounded kids in hospitals always fills me with impotent rage.
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| Apr 28, 2011 |  |
jmarkthespot | 60 54th |
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Excellent in its message, but I wouldn't say it is extremely effective as a documentary. It allows the viewer only a very few moments of insight and you learn everything the film is going to say in the first 20 minutes. Overall- good but not great.
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| Oct 24, 2010 |  |
SlantMag | 25 61st |
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"The film's focused portrayal of Al-Jazeera clashes with its more haphazard grouping of American media outlets." - Keith Uhlich
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| Feb 18, 2010 |  |
jeff_v | 80 91st |
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Control Room provides an invaluable look at the Arab perspective of the War on Iraq, and reveals the struggle for objectivity that both Al-Jareeza and American media confront. Perhaps it's not even a struggle for objectivity, but an acknowledgement that all reporting is influenced by one's culture and one's responsibility to the audience.
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| Jul 11, 2009 | WoozyB | 85 73rd |
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As a Canadian, this didn't have the same impact as an 'insider' view might have to Americans, but I did enjoy how it chose a specific topic and mostly stuck to it, given the footage they had. Sure there was an agenda, but it was mostly about information, and how it is processed, filtered, and transmitted, which is always worth a look into.
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| Nov 13, 2008 | bluewasabii | 80 66th |
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one of the first documentaries i saw and actually understood really shocking stuff
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| Dec 26, 2007 |  |
Stain | 80 68th |
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Intriguing documentary about al-Jazeera
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| Oct 06, 2007 |  |
Icarus | 90 88th |
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"Put yourself in the place of an average Arabic viewer . . ." The great value of this film is in its insistence that the world looks different to different people. Perspective matters. And what's more, in the person of Lt. Rushing, we get an individual truly grappling with the reality of distinct perspectives clashing with one another. While I would appreciate a sharper vision of American news coverage--as it is often invoked in contrast to Al-Jazeera--the effect of the film remains quite strong
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| Aug 14, 2007 |  |
chow25 | 88 85th |
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Good look at how skewed our views can be because of a few men in a CONTROL ROOM.
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| Aug 14, 2007 | djfntstque | 90 95th |
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Hopefully will become the definitive Iraq-era classic doc.
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| May 02, 2007 | theficionado | 75 74th |
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What makes Control Room resonate so brilliantly is that it doesn't try to portray the Al Jazeera as the supreme example of impartiality in the news but instead demonstrates the questionability of objectivity's validity in any source of media. Not only does Noujaim reveal our narrow understanding of the Arab news network but she puts some of the most iconic images of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and the Western journalism that brought them to us, into question. Sticky stuff.
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| Jan 28, 2007 |  |
doctor7 | 93 96th |
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An excellent documentary which provides a wealth of information on the Al Jazeera news station in Iraq. I learned a lot about something I new relatively little about. I especially enjoyed about how much it attempted to provide a neutral point of view on the matter while pointing out the flaws in both the American and Arab news.
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| Average Percentile 63.37% from 284 Ratings |  |