Supercords:

I think it's a good idea to hear and understand all sides of a debate, even if you don't necessarily agree with them. Control Room gives you the opposite take from Fox News. It's a documentary on Al Jazira, the largest Arab news station in the middle east. Having watched the film, I have a better understanding of how the war was viewed from the other side. I agreed with some of the points that were made in the film, but have objections to others. Control Room, as opposed to Farenheit 911, is a balanced documentary worth seeing. Rating: B-

GJS CDS EVS LGS:

Let there be no mistake, this film portrays a biased view of the Iraq war from what seems to be the typical Arab / Muslim perspective. So if you?re looking for an unbiased explanation of al jazeera?s actions, look elsewhere. The ?documentary? thematically portrays the same tired anti-American playbook: we?re bullies, we kill Arabs for fun, we try and silence opposing views, blame Israel, blah blah blah. However, the film did (on limited occasions) show a clear Arab bias and intentional errors in translation which resulted in furthering their cause of anti-Americanism. For me, the only worthwhile aspect gained from this film is a better insight from the arab perspective; jealously for the American quality of life that is being undermined by a misplaced sense of responsibility and accountability.

Rigel:

This film is supposed to be a documentary about Al Jazeera during the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, about 30 minutes into the unnarrated film, it forgets about that and focuses on gaffes in press briefings with Central Command. They even take a tour of MSNBC's offices at one point, for what doesn't seem to be much reason. It's peppered with frank and unstructured interviews with Al Jazeera staffers, but spends almost as much time with CentCom's press liason. Most of the commentary from the Al Jazeera staff is visibly pro-Iraq (not pro-Saddam) and, especially in the case of the station's owner, displays an obvious contempt for Amerian policy and government. The film seems to want to show the unbiased neutrality of the station, but right from the outset it's clear that they not only know they're biased, they don't care. Al Jazeera comes off as what liberal extremist bloggers would be like if they owned a tv station.

synergy:

This documentary does a really good job of presenting information while not telling the viewer what to think. It lays it on you and then leaves it to you to come to your own conclusions. This film is a good example of what journalism should do, especially when presenting unflinchingly some unflattering people and actions. I'd recommend people watch it so as to at least do some critical thinking when watching the news next time and ask themselves, what am I not being shown? What's not being asked? Watch it.