The movie itself is a documentary about the inner working of the Al Jazeera (Link). It is set at the start of the second gulf war and ends just after the US declares victory.
The whole thing was a really fascinating look at a network that is always demonized in the american media, and constantly declared the puppet of arab governments. The idea show is more them as journalists trying to get at the truth, and get the truth to the people, in a region where doing so is practically unheard of. They're trying to bring something americans have known for almost 200 years to a place where it's never really existed before. The comparisons of itself to CNN and the like are fairly subtle, and the parallels are quite interesting to see. Also their vastly different perspective on the war is quite a thing to see after being bombarded month after month with the american perspective. There are a few conspiracy theories dropped in at the end, but nothing too outlandish, like some other documentaries do.
Some will of course accuse it of being biased towards Al Jazeera's POV considering the source, but as it's put in the movie itself unbiased reporting is very difficult because of the bias that each side naturally brings to things.
In the end I thought it quite good and am glad I managed to see it in theaters. Something to see if you have the chance.
The whole thing was a really fascinating look at a network that is always demonized in the american media, and constantly declared the puppet of arab governments. The idea show is more them as journalists trying to get at the truth, and get the truth to the people, in a region where doing so is practically unheard of. They're trying to bring something americans have known for almost 200 years to a place where it's never really existed before. The comparisons of itself to CNN and the like are fairly subtle, and the parallels are quite interesting to see. Also their vastly different perspective on the war is quite a thing to see after being bombarded month after month with the american perspective. There are a few conspiracy theories dropped in at the end, but nothing too outlandish, like some other documentaries do.
Some will of course accuse it of being biased towards Al Jazeera's POV considering the source, but as it's put in the movie itself unbiased reporting is very difficult because of the bias that each side naturally brings to things.
In the end I thought it quite good and am glad I managed to see it in theaters. Something to see if you have the chance.
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