Control Room

United States

2004

84 Min

Color

1.85:1

English, Arabic

Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
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EXEC Nick Fraser, Mette Hoffman Meyer, Andrew P. Hurwitz, Jehane Noujaim, Abdallah Schleifer, Rosadel Varela

PROD Hani Salama, Rosadel Varela

SCR Julia Bacha, Jehane Noujaim

CAST Samir Khader, Josh Rushing, George W. Bush, Hassan Ibrahim, Deema Khatib, Tom Mintier, Donald Rumsfeld, David Shuster

ED Julia Bacha, Lilah Bankier, Charles Marquardt, Alan Oxman

MUSIC Thomas DeRenzo, Hani Salama

Synopsis

Directed by Jehane Noujaim, this fascinating, explosive film — utilizing plenty of American news footage of President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld in the days leading up to the war — carefully shows how both Al Jazeera and American news coverage use the exact same methods to spin their version of the war. —Combustible Celluloid

Director

Jehane Noujaim

Noujaim was raised in Cairo and began her career as a photographer. Following a B.A. in Film and Philosophy at Harvard, she directed Mokattam (1998). Noujaim went on to produce and direct Startup.com (2001) and Control Room (2004). She was co-director on Shayfeen.com: We Are Watching You. Noujaim has also worked as a cinematographer on Born Rich (2003), Only the Strong Survive (2002), and Down from the Mountain (2002), and as executive producer on Encounter Point (2006) and Budrus (2011). —ITVS

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Threske

13Apr11

Fascinating examination of purported journalistic objectivity on both sides of the Iraq conflict. Worth watching as much for the almost cartoonish personalities of some of the individuals featured (e.g. the preening, effete megalomaniac Samir Khader, Al-Jazeera's senior producer) as for the depiction of mass media in the middle east seldom seen by western audiences. ★★★★