Control Room

Just saw Control Room, a documentary about Al Jazeera showing at the Nuart in LA. Overall, I thought it was quite good. There are two compelling characters it follows, one a US Marine media specialist and a fat Al Jazeera reporter, strongly opposed to the US war in Iraq. Both intelligent men, there were a couple of scenes with them debating the issues around the war. I could have watched more...

At times the movie was boring - it was a documentary after all, but interspersed were some great moments:

-A sleezy Al Jazeera producer talking about the American dream he has for his children, his words, "I want to turn the Arab nightmare into the American dream."

-A few ironic political moments when Bush urges that caught American prisoners be treated humanely

-An Al Jazeera worker talking about how the war was playing out like an American movie

-Footage of American caught American soldiers...freaky stuff, they looked scared out of their minds. The subsequent debate about whether that footage should have been shown was also interesting.

But there were some notable omissions and flaws

-Zero discussion on terrorism. Al Jeezera was cited as the "mouth piece of Osama Bid Laden." There was no discussion on the topic. The only world affairs subject of the documentary was the Iraq war, as if it happened as an isolated incident unrelated to changes in the American attitude towards the middle east.

-Several weird narrative things, like trying to depict a Jazeera reporter being killed as a martyr and victim. This was weird because he was obviously in a very dangerous place wearing protective armour and then depicting the death as a purposeful attack by the US on Al Jazeera. That whole element was bizarre.

Overall, a pretty good documentary.

Real stories about Arabs tend always be tragic. What they need is an alternative narrative. Some current Arab narratives are:

a) The victims of worldwide persecution. This is a popular one, the most telling sign - the overuse of the word "occupation." In the film, they tried to make a Jezeera cameraman into this story.

b) Become a martyr. This is unfortunately a big time narrative, one they know is horrible, but generally romantic in their society. Terrorist playing cards - that's all I have to say.

c) Be a playa. There is another option, hustle and hustle, be generally selfish, play the sides against one another and get ahead for yourself and your family...The Jazeera sleezy producer guy who would take a job with FoxNews in an instant.

Arabs need a George Washington or a Thomas Jefferson story of their own - but one set in the modern day. For awhile, Arafat seemed to be that story...a terrorist turned peace-maker, but it wasn't true. He wasn't the man he needed to be.

They don't need "American liberators," where Americans are the heroes. They need someone will balls and with courage to stand up and take responsibility for himself and his people. This person needs to find friends around the world willing to support. They need a hero. They are so desparate for a hero, they lionize Osama Bin Laden, a murderous fascist, albeit a charming one.

Who will step forward?