Live from Baghdad (2002)

CNN producer Robert Wiener, his colleague and their crew venture to the Iraqi capital to cover the Gulf War.

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writers:

Robert Wiener (book), Robert Wiener (teleplay)

Stars:

Michael Keaton, Helena Bonham Carter, Joshua Leonard

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 8 wins & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Dramatized version of the story of CNN's Gulf War coverage featuring "The Boys from Baghdad": the battle over access, the fight to keep the technology up and running.. and the decision whether to risk their lives behind enemy lines once the bombing starts, in order to get the story of a lifetime.

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Plot Keywords:

cnn | gulf war | iraq | reporter | reference to pepsi | 

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Taglines:

Breaking News - Making History

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

HBO - link to trailer, chatroom, etc.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

En direct de Bagdad

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Films, Industry Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

On some of the posters in the critics blurb it states "Two thumbs up" - Siskel and Roeper instead of Ebert and Roeper.

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Goofs

In the scene when Ingrid and Robert are sitting at the bar, the current angle shows Ingrid's fingers by her mouth. In the next shot, they are on her neck. In the next shot, her fingers are back by her mouth.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[First lines spoken as characters in the film, preceded by title cards, archival movie dialog, and news announcements]
Robert Wiener: Baghdad is me.
Eason Jordan: You're supposed to be in Berlin.
Robert Wiener: Fuck Berlin. The wall's down. Baghdad is me, Eason.
Eason Jordan: You've never even been to Baghdad.
Robert Wiener: Close enough. Jerusalem.
Eason Jordan: I wouldn't bring up Jerusalem if I were you. It's not a point in your favor.

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Connections

References ABC News Nightline (1980)

User Reviews

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.