Documenting the inner workings of Arab news network al Jazeera during the war with Iraq, "Control Room" provides a reverse shot of the American media's presentation of our recent military actions in the Middle East.
Based in Doha, Qatar, al Jazeera broadcasts to 40 million Arabs and is a black sheep among Western and Arab news outlets. At first, the filmmakers toy with the idea of Arab and American news organizations broadcasting propaganda, but shy away from overt criticism of other news networks in favor of promoting the supposed lesser subjectivity of al Jazeera. To evidence al Jazeera's balanced news, the filmmakers portray the outlet as reporting Arabic news with a Western style. In a sense, "Control Room" focuses on the inimitability of al Jazeera through visual and narrative juxtaposition.
For its failure to adhere to the Western media line, al Jazeera is labeled "Osama bin Laden's mouthpiece" by American officials and denounced by Coalition members after airing footage of deceased American soldiers.
The primary setting of "Control Room" is Central Command, or "CentComm," the American military media nexus in the Middle East. Scenes set within CentComm are comprised of press briefings and candid dialogues on American media coverage with reporters from news outlets including MSNBC and CNN.
A majority of the remaining scenes are located at al Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar where producers edit news content, reporters voice the concerns of the average Arab and translators relay Bush's many speeches to viewers, making faces all the way. Scenes within the control room are the filmmakers' comment on the liminality of al Jazeera -- Arab news presented using Western equipment in a democratic style. The most startling visual is the control room nearly filled by pristine, Arab-attired editors and associate producers, as opposed to the blue-jeans-and-plaid-shirt stereotypical American producer or news journalist.
Aside from CentComm and control room scenes, news clips from al Jazeera and a variety of Western news sources construct the chronology of the film; interviews with al Jazeera reporter Hassan Ibrahim and producer Samir Khader, as well as American military press officer Lt. Josh Rushing, constitute the narration.
Though not as slickly produced as "Fahrenheit 9/11" or "The Corporation," "Control Room" is as politically relevant as the former and as informative as the latter. But where Michael Moore's polemic is sharply coercive, "Control Room" establishes a less editorial, more educational format.
Through behind-the-scenes footage of press briefings and off-the-cuff interviews with CentComm personalities, "Control Room" strives to present, but not explicate, the subjectivities, conscious and systemic, in American media coverage of the war. In accomplishing this, the filmmakers excel in presenting the untold events of the war. For example, one section of the film records the Western media furor over the Coalition's "Most Wanted" deck, playing cards with the faces of 55 prominent members of Saddam's regime. Another sequence concerns the death of three journalists, including an al Jazeera employee, in a few hours of American bombings of Baghdad just days before the city's invasion and the lack of Western media coverage. This powerful juxtaposition of playing cards and death shines a harsh light on the priorities of the American media and begs the most powerful question of the film: What has our media left unreported?
At less than 90 minutes, "Control Room" is tantalizingly brief with no clues as to the origins of the network or its current programming. And though interviews with al Jazeera employees occasionally shed some light on the goals of the network, insight into the decision-making processes and future of the organization are few and far between.
Part of the film's brevity is its singular subject, the war in Iraq. Al Jazeera's take on the Israel/Palestine conflict, which is only mentioned in passing, would have logically enhanced the film by reporting on the Arab world's association of American alliances with Israel and interests in the Middle East.
Hardly a screed against America, "Control Room" acts more like an international reaction to holes in Western mainstream media coverage. In this sense, "Control Room" behaves as supplemental material to the war with Iraq's metaphorical DVD: Previously unreleased footage that didn't make the final cut.
In its loose ending, "Control Room" represents the Arab, and increasingly American, perspective on America's treatment of the war with Iraq: A false ending, a forced conclusion. And in this final consideration lies the ultimate evaluation of the war: We're supposed to think the film is over, but instead walk out of the theater and recognize that the control room is still there; that there are still decisions as to what we do and don't see. And that endings aren't so tidy in the real world.
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