The gap between those with different cultural perspectives

Control Room Demonstrates the Power of Film

The documentary Control Room opened in NYC on Friday night May 21, 2004. The opening weekend shows were sold out, and the reviews in the NY press encouraged people to see the film and to take it seriously. On the surface, "Control Room" appears to be a film about the Arab language media organization Al Jazeera and their coverage of the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The actual focus of the film is, however, considerably more profound.

Jehane Noujaim, who directed the film, has her roots in both the Egyptian and the American cultural environments. She became interested in how the news contributes to different cultural perspectives of the world. In her film, not only does the film maker focus on the gap between those with different cultural perspectives, but she also explores the power of the the news and of film to foster communication which can overcome these cultural barriers.

In an interview, Noujaim describes her personal experience which led her to the idea for her film. She explains:

The idea for the film came from a few different sources. Growing up and going back and forth between Egypt and the United States provided the initial entry point. Seeing the complete difference in perspectives on the same world events between the two cultures made me start thinking about news, the creation of the news, who's responsible, and then on to questions of how these two peoples are supposed to communicate if the world as provided by their news are different.

After writing letters to Al Jazeera to try to get access to film them didn't succeed, she headed to Qatar to Al Jazeera's headquarters. Her executive producer Abdallah Schleifer, formerly a journalist who was an NBC bureau chief for 10 years, was able to set up an initial meeting with Al Jazeera. That, however, was not sufficient to gain the access needed to do the film she had in mind. Sitting in the cafeteria at Al Jazerra's headquarters with the film's producer, Hani Salama, Noujaim took a week drinking lots of coffee and talking with people who would later be featured in the film.

Among the Al Jazeera staff she met were Samir Khader, a senior producer at Al Jazeera and Hassan Ibrahim, a reporter, who formerly worked for the BBC. They came to understand what she wanted to do. Hassan then spoke with Al Jazeera's management and was able to get their agreement to give Noujaim the access she needed for the film. "You have to have the trust of someone inside, she explains, "to be able to make a film like the one we wanted to make."

Abdallah Schleifer also brought her to meet Lt. Josh Rushing, the press officer at Centcom, the Media Center of the United States Central Command in Qatar. Lt. Rushing was responsible for explaining the rationale and progress of the US invasion of Iraq to the Arab press. Rushing said that he would get the film crew into Centcom every day when their application through normal channels failed.

Among the memorable moments in the film, is the recognition by Hassam that George Bush "has managed to galvanize people for Saddam in a way that is amazing." Despite Hassam's condemnation of the US invasion of Iraq, he maintains a conviction the US Constitution will make it possible to restore democracy in the US. Similarly, Samir expresses his belief in democratic processes and values. His goal is to create a news media which will encourage people in the Arab countries to discuss and debate the news. The goal of Al Jazeera, he explains is to "educate the Arab masses in something called democracy....to shake up their rigid societies, to awaken them, to tell them: Wake up, wake up, there is a world around you, something is happening in the world, you are still sleeping, wake up."

Recent revelations of the torture of Iraqi prisoners by the American occupation forces, make especially ironic the footage from 2003 of George Bush explaining to the world that he expects American P.O.W's to be "treated humanely, just like we're treating the prisoners that we have captured humanely."

Similarly, when Rumsfeld lambasts Al Jazeera for presenting images of Iraqi injuries and deaths on tv, or for showing Iraqi women and children speaking out against the American invasion of their country, one can only wonder about what he had in mind when he promises that, "Truth ultimately finds its way to people's eyes and ears and hearts."

In contrast to the hostility of American government officials like Rumsfeld toward hearing any other perspective of the situation in Iraq, is the continuing conversation between Hassan of Al Jazeera, and Lt. Rushing of Centcom, about the difference in understanding of the American and the Arab worlds about the struggle in Palestine. Lieutenant Rushing believes that "no American connects the Palestinian issue" with the war in Iraq, while Hassan stresses the widespread rercognition of this connection in the Arab world.

Hassan patiently explain to Rushing why this is a signficant difference between the two cultures, a difference that Rushing acknowledges he can't comprehend. At the end of the film, Hassan invites Rushing to dinner to explore this difference, and Rushing accepts. At least in this instance, with the focus of the film maker on these two individuals from two different worlds, the US press officer acknowledges the difference and agrees to try to broaden his perspective.

The film demonstrates that there is a power in journalism and in film. It provides the challenge to continue to explore how this power can be put in the service of communication across cultural barriers, as Noujaim has done in her powerful and relevant documentary.