Control Room

L and I saw "Control Room" the other night at E Street Cinema. If you haven't heard of it, the Washington Post review should cover the basics.

I can't decide what was best about the film, but among my favorite segments were:

• Bush demanding that any American POWs must be treated with the same respect and dignity with which the U.S. is treating the Iraqi prisoners. Um, yeah.
• Rumsfeld talking about how truth has a way of getting out, regardless of the lies leaders might tell. Say it again, Rummy!
• When CentCom told the room of reporters that American troops had been giving decks of cards showing the pictures and names of the 55 "most wanted" Iraqis. The press didn't have anything to say except, "Do you have any decks for us?" They cried like babies because the U.S. military wasn't giving them decks of Iraqi "most wanted" cards, and mostly it was just because they all knew their stories would sell so much better if they had those images. Were the reporters clamoring for a better story so that they could better serve the propaganda interests of the U.S., or were they simply trying to get better ratings with more sensational images? Hard to tell.

The film's most serious suggestion is that, 1) the U.S. intentionally bombed Al Jazeera's office in Baghdad, killing one of its reporters; and 2) that bombing was orchestrated to prevent/discourage Al Jazeera from being on the scene for the big spectacle of the statue of Saddam being pulled down. Al Jazeera's offices were bombed a day before the statute was pulled down, which meant that Al Jazeera didn't have any crews on the ground to cover it; therefore, it was easier for the U.S. to manipulate the images of that spectacle to ensure that it came across the "right" way on tv. There's little doubt in my mind about #1 (the U.S. intentionally bombed Al Jazeera), and #2 seems very probable.

Other upcoming documentaries to look forward to:
Fahrenheit 9/11 (6/25)
The Hunting of the President (6/25)
The Corporation (not sure when it's coming, but soon; interesting review here)

See also: Morgan Spurlock Supersized Me

Posted 06:47 AM | Comments (1) | ai movies

An Ambivalent First

Inexplicably, Macsurfer currently features a link to this post here at ai. I don't understand why my little jibe at Safari attracted anyone's attention (perhaps for no better reason than that I linked to Apple's Safari page?), but I won't complain. Macsurfer was one of the sites I read daily for years—before I realized I'd better cut my consumption of mac-related obsessiveness if I was going to get other things done in my life. It remains a pre-eminent source for news of all things Macintosh, and I'm flattered for the mention.

Posted 05:00 AM | mac geek meta-blogging