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Control Room
Magnolia Pictures


8.1

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 26 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

Startup.com

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Hassan Ibrahim

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)

GENRE(S):	Documentary
DIRECTED BY:	Jehane Noujaim
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 26, 2004 Video: October 26, 2004 Theatrical: May 21, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	84 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Egypt
LANGUAGE(S):	English / Arabic (with English subtitles)

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

A riveting new documentary about the Arab-run Al Jazeera network, reminds us that news programming can vary so widely from place to place that journalistic myths of "objectivity" and "impartiality" seem more naive than ever.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

It's strong stuff.

100

Boston Globe Ty Burr

About the search for common ground, among journalists on all sides of the conflict and, through them, between viewers in America and the Arab world. Only within that common ground, Noujaim believes, can something like a workable, personal truth be found.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel

One of the year’s most significant films.

100

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Here's the sliver of hope: In contrast to everything we've been told, the people who run Al Jazeera turn out to be decent and level headed.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A surprising, puzzling and in many ways brilliant work.

Film Threat Tim Merrill

In the end, the greatest achievement of Control Room may be to simply remind us, as Americans, that in this age of mega-corporate U.S. news media there are other perspectives on world events besides those of Fox, CNN, MSNBC-ABCBS and whoever else feeds us our information.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Perception is key and Control Room should be required viewing for anyone within reach of a TV signal.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Control Room may not seem all that compelling 10 years down the road. But right now, at this very moment, it is essential, imperative viewing.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Control Room ends by acknowledging that independence, accuracy and even truth itself may be illusory.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Control Room is even more effective in showing the dilemma of the people who make up Al-Jazeera. In a sense, these are "our" Arabs, in that they're Western-educated, conduct their business in English and seem to believe in the basic American principles.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

May be most valuable for its depiction of the strength of democratic ideals, even in the most precarious and contradictory of circumstances.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

News management is the main issue. Control Room shows how coverage is tailored to fit the audience, both by al-Jazeera and its Western counterparts.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Think of Control Room as a through-the-looking-glass movie. Like Lewis Carroll's Alice, viewers of this remarkable documentary will be disconcerted by a glimpse of a world where everything is reversed.

TV Guide Ken Fox

If any film can be considered required viewing as the conflict in Iraq continues to drag on and be reported, surely this among them.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Whatever your opinions about the war, the conduct of the journalists who covered it and the role of Al Jazeera in that coverage, you are likely to emerge from Control Room touched, exhilarated and a little off-balance, with your certainties scrambled and your assumptions shaken.

Variety Ronnie Scheib

Compelling docu about the independent Arab news service, Al Jazeera.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Remarkable and timely film.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

This absorbing, significant, and shamelessly entertaining movie not only goes through the looking glass but, no less significantly, turns the mirror back on us.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

If her (Noujaim's) movie teaches us anything, it's that no reality remains unspun.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Engrossing.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Control Room isn't a systematic dissection of Al Jazeera's possible biases regarding the U.S. or Israel; it's noted that Arabs almost invariably view the war with Iraq in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while Americans rarely do.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film's buried message is that there is a reservoir of admiration and affection for America, at least among the educated classes in the Arab world, and they do not equate the current administration with America.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Gripping footage about the controversial Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, which transmits news to 40 million Arabs. But the movie offers neither lucid analyses of the channel nor probing portraits of its journalists.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

More illuminating than not.

LA Weekly Brendan Bernhard

Memorable, if not fully satisfying, film.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Enlightening, if structurally relaxed documentary.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

It puts us in the shoes of men and women for whom the war is not something distant and intangible but a bloodbath in their own back yard, which makes them the very definition of embedded journalists.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Shot during the March 2003 invasion and the early stages of the American occupation, it tells us more about how the channel decides what to report than we probably know about most American newscasts.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Scenes of dark humor abound as well, like the episode in which the gathered journalists react in fury when they are not provided with pictures of the infamous deck of playing cards depicting the "50 Most Wanted" Iraqi figures.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

There is no narrator; rather, we are invited to eavesdrop on--or to get an earful from--such figures as Hassan Ibrahim, a jovial reporter with Al Jazeera, and Samir Khader, one of the network’s senior producers. [24 May 2004, p. 97]

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Anxiety-provoking documentary.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

It is easy to point out gaps in Noujaim's account. (What, for instance, about the rebuilding that tries to go forward in Iraq?) But the prime importance of this film, I'd say, is that it is not an eye-opener. Of course this change in reporting, this bilateralism, has occurred so far only in wars where the U.S. was the overwhelming superior in force.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 26 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a1:
A very bias movie favoring Al Jazeera, a known supporter of terrorism. It is a shame that we have to commit so many good soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines to defend other nations from their own criminals. What a waste of Great Americans. God Bless America!

sharon h. gave it a10:
This documentary about Al Jazeera shows us the other side of this horrible war. The human cost, the lies, the misrepresentation, and the conflicts. The strongest contradiction seen is that they are doing a much better of representing democratic ideals of free speech and objectivity than anything coming out of the American press.

matt m. gave it a0:
I had to watch this movie for a class, however if that were not the case i would have turned the TV off in 2 seconds, this movie was the biggest waste of 84 minutes and the way that al jazeera propogates war just makes me sick.

Prateek G. gave it a9:
I loved it. We hear all of these bad things about Al Jazeera but after seeing this movie I think that they are a legitimate media outlet. I really hope that the U.S. government makes a strong effort to appear on the channel because it seems that they are one of the few mediums not controlled by government controlled into the islamic world. I think that Lt. John Rushing could be the proxy for the feelings of most of us Americans towards this conflict. This also shows the dedication of the reporters for Al Jazeera. I did find it interesting that the Al Jazeera reporters were visibly dissapointed by the lack of a response by the Iraqi army. I suppose that the American media would be just as dissapointed if not moreso had our army not performed well.

Tom E. gave it an8:
Stupid Hippies! Obviously the Democrats made this movie...

Russell J. gave it a 10:
This is the chronic movie. Deema is the straight bomb as well. Funny that the New Republic gave it the worst review. How interesting, how bizarre??? The journalists that got waxed by the man are currently suing the US gov too. Really ill stuff, this.

Erwin K. gave it a 9:
Thomas R. What is this rubbish you are spewing out about Al-J broadcasting the message of terrorists? In case you didn't realise all of the western media broadcast those messages as well by using footage from Al-J. Can you accuse CNN as being a terrorist sympathiser because it publishes a photo of a hostage with a gun to his head?

Control Room Magnolia Pictures

Control Room
Magnolia Pictures