Live from Baghdad (2002) (TV)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writers (WGA):

Robert Wiener (book)
Robert Wiener (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

7 December 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

The Gulf War, 1991. No story is worth dying for - but this was the story of a lifetime.

Plot:

A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War.

Plot Keywords:

Cnn | Gulf War | Baghdad | Iraq | Saddam Hussein

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Michael Keaton	...	Robert Wiener
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Ingrid Formanek
Joshua Leonard	...	Mark Biello
Lili Taylor	...	Judy Parker
David Suchet	...	Naji Al-Hadithi
Bruce McGill	...	Peter Arnett
Michael Murphy	...	Tom Johnson
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Ed Turner
Hamish Linklater	...	Richard Roth
Michael Cudlitz	...	Tom Murphy
Robert Wisdom	...	Bernard Shaw
Pamela Sinha	...	Fatima (as Pamela Sinna)
Clark Gregg	...	Eason Jordan
Matt Keeslar	...	Nic Robertson
Kurt Fuller	...	Inky

Runtime:

110 min | USA:108 min | Argentina:107 min | Spain:104 min (DVD edition)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:LH | South Korea:12 | Spain:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-11 | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

HBO Films

Trivia:

The reason CNN is approved to use the fore-wire is said to be because the ministry believes them to be "fair and balanced". FOX News's motto is "fair and balanced".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the team arrives at Iraqi T.V. for their first broadcast and see the "archaic" broadcasting equipment, Mark exclaims, "Jihad! My grandfather used to have stuff like this in his basement." Judy jokingly responds, "Yeah, back in the 80's before you were born?" This is a funny joke to us in the new millennium. At the time of the Gulf War, however, the "80's" were really just a few months before, so this joke is inappropriately placed.

Quotes:

Ed Turner: No story is worth your life... but this is the story of a lifetime.

Movie Connections:

References "Meet the Press" (1947)

A Decent Film

This film is a well-written and acted live-action documentary of Robert Wiener's experiences working as a CNN correspondent in Baghdad during the Gulf War. Overall, it is pretty good. The speeches all resonate, and it is good to see some of the atrocities committed by Saddam's army brought to light again; revisionist Americans love to paint the Gulf War as a "quest for oil", just as they love to browbeat America for using the atomic bomb during WWII. Obviously there are many sides to any story, and for the most part "Live from Baghdad" does a good job of showing what was really happening in Iraq, along with serving the Americans an occasional slice of humble pie for their brashness and xenophobia.

Interestingly, the weakest part of the movie is the director. Mick Jackson has a lot of experience (I'm amazed to find out that he directed Steve Martin's "L.A. Story"), but his work here falls into two distinct categories: workmanlike and/or irritating. The workmanlike scenes aren't so bothersome. But occasionally he'll pull a trick out of his hat, and it's always hackneyed - particularly his fascination with long shots of people staring. This is one of those art house things that you just have to suffer through, along with the excessively talky relationship between Wiener and Ingrid. It is a distinctly American conceit, as seen in such dreck as "Pearl Harbor", to take something as colossal as a war and use it as a backdrop for a hamfisted love story. I also found it a little unsettling that the reporters were laughing and slapping each other on the back after the bombing, while outside their relatively safe hotel people were picking their loved ones out of the rubble.

It is definitely a gigantic commercial for CNN, but you know that going in. The guy worked for CNN. If you watch a documentary about Colonel Sanders, you have to expect some fried chicken.

Some people have dismissed the film as propaganda; I must point out that while it does paint our involvement in the Gulf War in a positive light, it makes no reference to the modern situation except to state that Saddam Hussein is still in power. If you were against the war, then of course there's no way you will like this film. But if you were against it without knowing anything about it except some friend of yours said "we're doing it for oil!", then you should do quite a bit of research ... and this film is as good a place as any to start.