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Poster for Control Room

Control Room

Different channels. Different truths.

2004 · 1h 24m · Not Rated Documentary
Directed by Jehane Noujaim

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Overview

A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
95%
Tomatometer
Fresh

The optimistic viewer will see in all this blunt and messy contrariness the emergence of the first free press in the Arab world.

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Rotten

Given that most Americans know the network only by reputation, or via Donald Rumsfeld's public denunciations of it, a little more objective information would not have gone amiss.

Anthony Lane, New Yorker
Fresh

Noujaim's documentary is clearly sympathetic to the journalists of Al-Jazeera, who all seem to be professional, intelligent and reasonable, but it is not blindly biased.

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
Fresh

Modest in scope and not as well structured as it could have been, 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.

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
Fresh

More illuminating than not, and shines its brightest light on a truth that war and warmongers so ferociously ignore: Look hard into the other's camp and what you'll likely see is yourself.

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

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