"Live From Baghdad" Informative, Not Entertaining

"Live From Baghdad" wrestles with the duties of journalists in turbulent times: would you stay or would you go? Robert Wiener, who is played by Michael Keaton, wrote the screenplay himself after his experiences as the CNN senior producer in Baghdad during the Gulf War. CNN was the sole station to maintain a constant dialogue with reporters in Baghdad during the war.

The HBO made-for-tv movie is an excellent informant of the events that led up to the Gulf War. CNN overcame many obstacles in their struggle to interview Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which are realistically portrayed in the movie.

Mick Jackson, director, used live footage of President Bush, as well as Hussein and shots of Baghdad to ground the film in early 1990s, Iraq. The cinematography was not otherwise noteworthy, though it was interesting to watch a film about filming. 

"Live From Baghdad" is a tribute to journalism. Journalists have to take chances, risks, and much of their hard labor goes unappreciated. This story shows what it's really like to pry a story out of unwilling hands. Society relies upon journalists to give them news, to put themselves in the line of danger for the sake of information. In one of the final scenes, the CNN team must decide to stay through January 15th, the bombings, or return home to safety. While the journalists are cast in a positive light, some shadows are cast around Wiener and his interactions with Naji Al-Hadithi, played by David Suchet. 

Keaton is accompanied by Helena Bonham Carter, as Ingrid Formanek. Joshua Leonard and Lili Taylor make up the rest of the core CNN crew. Keaton performs well and outshines the small-time actors he is surrounded by, Formanek included. The movie leaves some questions lingering, like the ever present romantic tension between Wiener and Formanek. Does the hero get the girl?

The film was released in 2002, but the issues at hand are just as relevant now as they were then. "Live From Baghdad" documents the beginning of the conflict with Iraq, a conflict yet to be resolved. While the movie covers a very important historical time, it does not do so in a very entertaining fashion. It does not deserve the three awards it received, nor the seven others it was nominated for. "Live From Baghdad" was built up to be more than it truly is. Yes, it poses a thought provoking question about journalism and documents the start of the Gulf War, but it is not a movie to put on a pedestal. It has its moments, but is informative before it is ever entertaining.