Live From Baghdad

Released 2002
Stars Michael Keaton, Helena Bonham Carter, Bruce McGill, Robert Wisdom, Lili Taylor, Joshua Leonard, Paul Gilfoyle, Michael Murphy, Clark Gregg, David Suchet, Hamish Linklater
Directed by Mick Jackson

Based on a nonfiction book of the same name, Live from Baghdad explores how CNN producers Robert Wiener (Michael Keaton), Igrid Formanek (Helena Bonham Carter) and their crew brushed aside their own personal safety to bring us news of the impending Persian Gulf War in the 1980s. With the help of reporters Bernard Shaw (Robert Wisdom), Peter Arnett (Bruce McGill) and John Holliman (John Carroll Lynch), CNN scooped the four major networks.

Summary from www.netflix.com

"Seinfeld" is my favorite tv show of all time, but CNN's first Gulf War was my favorite miniseries. It's been more than 10 years since it aired, but I remember it well. The buildup to the war was frightening as the media tried to scare the hell out of us with Iraq's Elite Republican Guard and their chemical weapons, and it went on for months. It finally came to a head on January 15, 1991 when GW Bush's deadline arrived and passed without a whimper. All we saw on the news was the Iraqis dancing in the streets ridiculing America, but that changed in the night when all hell was loosed on Iraq. CNN was the only network broadcasting live from Baghdad during the attack, and it was more thrilling than any sporting event I've seen. That night was the final event that officially changed news to entertainment, and it shot CNN to the top of the news networks. It was no longer good enough to report the news for a half hour daily. We needed 24/7 coverage, and CNN provided it.

This movie shows us how CNN was able to broadcast live during that first night. Even though it was only audio, it was something we'd never had before, which was a live broadcast from the capitol of the country we were bombing. It was riveting, and this movie shows how they were able to pull it off. Somehow they were able to finagle a four-wire device from the Iraqis which allowed the CNN crew to speak directly to Atlanta without interference from the oppressive Iraqi government. I don't know why they let them have it, but it's clear the Iraqi government used CNN as much as CNN used them. The movie does a great job of showing the dilemma of broadcasting real news without getting kicked out of the country. The first story of the hostages or "guests" was a prime example. CNN did what they could to put a spin on a video issued by the Iraqis, and I remember the story being very effective. The media apparently didn't give the public enough credit to see what Wiener and his crew saw, but we could tell what was going on by watching Saddam play a deranged dictator version of Santa to a frightened little boy.

The movie's successful in showing what happened behind the scenes, but it spends a little too much time on the relationships and Wiener's grandstanding about trying to stop the war. Where it's wildly successful is at the end when it shows us what happened on the other side of the four-wire during the first night of bombing. The special effects are incredible, and we get to see what the famous green video looked like in person. Amazing stuff. By the way, the sequel to the Gulf War wasn't as good. Although it gave us embedded reporters who showed us live battles, it lacked the fierce bombing from the first war, and it was the bombing that made the best tv. Oh well, the sequel's never as good. --Bill Alward, October 18, 2003