Live from Baghdad (film)
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| Live from Baghdad | |
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 Live from Baghdad DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Mick Jackson |
| Produced by | George W. Perkins |
| Written by | Robert Wiener (book), Richard Chapman, John Patrick Shanley |
| Starring | Michael Keaton, Helena Bonham Carter, Bruce McGill |
| Editing by | Joe Hutshing |
| Distributed by | HBO |
| Release date(s) | December 7, 2002 |
| Running time | 1 hour 48 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Live from Baghdad is a television movie produced in 2002 by HBO. Directed by Mick Jackson and written by Robert Wiener (based on the book of the same title by Robert Wiener). The movie was released during the prelude stage of the currently ongoing Iraq War.
Michael Keaton stars as CNN on-location producer Robert Wiener in Baghdad, Iraq during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The movie focuses on the news media's (primarily CNN's) coverage of the war. Fundamentally an action/drama, the characters grapple with the ethics and implications of 24-hour journalism in the days leading up to and during the United States-led bombing of Baghdad.
The movie received some criticism for its inclusion of the journalists' attempt to investigate claims that infants were being removed from their incubators in Iraqi hospitals. The scene in the movie suggests doctors were trying to hide something, but it was later determined that the allegations were untrue. A disclaimer was added to later broadcasts and the home video version.
[edit] Storyline
The film begins on August 2, 1990 with Iraqi forces and tanks rolling into Kuwait City, as the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait begins. In Atlanta, CNN picks Robert Wiener (Michael Keaton) and his crew to go to Baghdad and cover the invasion. At Rome International Airport, Wiener meets his colleague and producer Ingrid Formanek (Helena Bonham Carter). Weiner and his crew arrive in Baghdad on August 23, and stay at the Al-Rasheed Hotel.
As they settle in their hotel rooms, they notice that they are being monitored. The crew report their first story on a young British boy held as a hostage by Saddam Hussein. As they continue to report stories, they get pressured by the Iraqi government. Weiner later meets the Iraqi Minister of Information Naji Al Hadithi (David Suchet), and requests pieces of equipment and an interview with Hussein. As the movie goes on, Wiener and Al Hadithi become friends.
Weiner and his crew get access to interview Americans forced to stay in the country by the Iraqi government. The Iraqis use the American hostages as human shields for potential bombing sites. After Wiener's crew interview an American named Bob Vinton (Murphy Dunne), Vinton goes missing. Wiener becomes worried about Vinton. Later, Al Hadithi gives CBS and Dan Rather the Saddam Hussein interview. Instead of the Hussein interview, Al Hadithi gives Weiner and his crew a trip to Kuwait. They arrive in Jahra Air Force Base, Kuwait on October 17. The crew cover the incubator story in 3 hospitals, but then Iraqis call off the interviews because the CNN crew broke some ground rules. As soon as they arrive back in Baghdad, Wiener and the crew become the story as the only Americans to be in Kuwait.
After an argument between Wiener and Al Hadithi, Al Hadithi agrees to give CNN a Saddam Hussein interview. On October 29, Bernard Shaw (Robert Wisdom) and the CNN crew interview Saddam Hussein at one of his presidential palaces. In the interview, Hussein states that he won't withdraw from Kuwait, unless the U.S. withdraws from Hawaii. The crew then covers the release of American hostages from Iraq. Wiener then finds Bob Vinton, and is emotionally moved by him being safe.
The United Nations gives Iraq until January 15, 1991 to withdraw from Kuwait, or face military action. As the deadline comes to an end, the crew sees that the Iraqi Army is installing anti-aircraft guns in Baghdad. The crew then gets a piece of equiptment called the four-wire, which gives them communications to CNN in Atlanta. The Iraqis eventually find out that the crew have established communication with Atlanta. The CNN crew is the only foreign news group with the four wire. On January 9, the crew eventually believe that there will be war.
Bernard Shaw arrives in Baghdad again on January 13 to interview Saddam Hussein again at the deadline. As soon as the deadline expires, streets in Baghdad are empty and businesses are shut down. Americans and foreign news groups begin evacuating Baghdad on January 15 in fear of American bombing strikes. Wiener decides to stay, and some members of the crew decide to leave. At around 2 a.m. on January 17, U.S. F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighters begin to bomb Baghdad. Iraqi soldiers begin to fire anti-craft guns into the sky to shoot down the bombers. As soon as the bombing strikes begin, CNN correspondents Bernard Shaw, John Holliman and Peter Arnett begin to report and describe the bombings on the four-wire communicator. The reports are broadcasted live on CNN in America. The film shows the points of view from Saddam Hussein and U.S. President George H. W. Bush watching the CNN reports. At around 5 a.m., the crew is forced to stop reporting by Al Hadithi and Iraqi soldiers.
Most of the crew leave Baghdad including Formanek and Shaw. Wiener stays in Baghdad. Wiener returned back to America on January 23. The film ended showing the destruction of buildings from bombings in Baghdad.
[edit] Trivia
- During the film's release, Naji Al Hadithi was the Foreign Minister of Iraq.
- Most of the film was shot in Morocco.
