Live from Baghdad (2002)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

'Live from Baghdad' is a political movie in the sense that it asks very tough questions; however, its center lies not in politics but in people. It relates the story of Robert Wiener and his CNN team as they struggle to report the news from Baghdad in the six month antebellum period leading up to the Persian Gulf War of 1991. The team battles with tough Iraqi censorship, enormous political tension, and the reality of impending war. While still presenting the historical events of the time, Baghdad focuses on interpersonal relationships and intrapersonal struggles. Questions over the role of the media emanate from the various stories and struggles that the CNN team faces. The issues of censorship and propaganda, for example, plague the CNN team and their coverage. The use of the media as a diplomatic pawn befalls Wiener and his crew several times in the film. In many senses Baghdad is a media mood ring: different situations in the movie stress and display the various characteristics of the press from a governmental tool to diplomatic connection.The acting in this movie is superb. Keaton is a very strong actor in this film and in every sense epitomizes the gung-ho, balls-out attitude of the real Robert Wiener. In stark contrast, David Suchet, as Naji Al-Hadithi, presents the exquisiteness of his character with a sense of calculation and deliberation. He very much captures a cultured, borderline-aristocratic dignity that an Iraqi official in Saddam Hussein's cabinet might hold.The particular strength of this movie is not in the plot, the production or the characters, however--and in fact none of these really stand out as excellent--but in the broad questions it raises. At the heart of this film is the implied question as to the role of the media. To what extent should we censor? How much should we analyze? What does the public have the right to now and how far can the press go to get it? 'Live from Baghdad' is an incredible movie in the sense that it can raise these questions from an emotional and factual base.I give this movie an 8 out of 10 for its generally entertaining plot and tough press-related questions.

The movie was written by the main character and his heroic battle for good, ethical journalistic coverage in the outbreak of a war. He's portrayed as movie-flawed (likes vodka) but a good person and goshdarnit, a damned fine journalist. That's how the writer portrays himself. And that indicates the veracity of many of the other "factual" events in the movie. Others have spelled out the errors so I will not reiterate. Funny that a journalist who apparently thinks that he's among the best and the bravest chose not nonfiction to tell his story, but made up a story to tell us. I also have a minor issue with women wearing more make-up than drag queens in impossible situations like wars. I mean, I thought we left that silly movie practice in the 80s. What if the story broke and you had only one eye finished????

It was often publically proven that Naira, the girl who supposedly saw the babies die in Kuweit from the unplugged incubators (312 of them as confirmed by Amnesty International then) turned out to be the daughter of the Ambassador of Kuweit in Washington, DC. and never set foot in Kuweit in her life. (Amnesty International later realized their mistake).The movie suggests that the American journalists were kept from investigating further inside the hospital by the local Iraqi police. The whole thing being a lie, this scene makes obviously no sense.After the broadcast of this woman's "testimony" shocking the world population, George Bush Sr. got the authorization 2 days later to attack Iraq.Of course, the only kinds of journalists represented in the film are from CNN and FOX, notoriously known as being the most government-controlled media "news" companies of the "free world".Please do not let this film serve as a history book. It only serves the purpose of disinformation aimed at the masses. Praising a political film based on propaganda is more serious than voting for a comedy. A little research to verify the facts beforehand might be necessary.

"Live From Baghdad" is all about CNN producer Robert Weiner in the days leading up to the US bombing of Iraq from his behind-the-scenes Baghdad perspective. The film sticks little known Weiner out front and tries to build drama around his character but fails to deliver a human story as it ricochets off such issues as the emotional bond with a professional kindred (Bonham Carter); the blurring of the line between journalistic ethics and professional fervor; a producer's egotistical self interest endangering other correspondents and crew; and the whole Iraq perspective. What could have been real meat on this skeleton succumbs to shallow dramatic flair, lots of busy work, Keaton's too glib cuteness, etc. leaving just so much couch potato carrion. Nonetheless, this commercial for CNN from corporate sibling HBO will likely prove an adequate watch for the weary cable viewer. (C+)