I never write movie reviews, but since the topic of the film is Central Asia and the current state of the media, 2 things I care a lot about, I wanted to air my views.
I had high hopes before the start of this film, since so few movies come out about Central Asia. I found the film however to be quite boring, misleading and demagogic.
I think there are many things wrong with the way the American government, secret services and military act abroad, and there are big issues with today's media landscape in Central Asia and the US. Sadly, Mediastan, with its confused narrative, illuminates nothing here beyond the basic facts most educated people already know.
The basic point of the film is that the American government tries to make itself look good in Central Asia through the media there. Obviously, it does, like every other government and large company. But why does the film focus so much on the Americans here, who are generally a force for good in the media landscape in Central Asia?
Journalists don't get killed or locked away by Americans in Central Asia, they get killed or imprisoned by local governments and mafiosi. RFE/RL is one of the best sources of independent information in Central Asia, thanks to the support of the American government, but Wikileaks makes them look like they are nothing more than a propaganda channel for the West. Of course they promote Western values, but they also provide valuable news services in a region where this is not always possible, and their journalists risk a lot.
AsiaPlus is a courageous independent newspaper in Tajikistan, but after watching Mediastan, you get the impression that they are also being backed by the Us Government.
In its focus on the crimes, mistakes and manipulations of the US Foreign Service, Mediastan misses a good opportunity to discuss the real problems in the media landscape of Central Asia.
I think a film like this would have been better if it focused on the media landscape in the US, like when at the end, images of a park with peaceful protesters from Occupy Wall Street are juxtaposed with the sound of a journalist who says they are very dangerous people and the chance of rape is very high in the park. Or, alternatively, focusing on the pressure by Russian or local governments on the journalists would have been great too.
I also didn't understand the interviews afterwards with Rusbridger and Keller. Both respected, concerned, intelligent editors who are implicitly accused of being 'all about the money' in this movie. Everybody knows the Guardian and the NYT are very serious about journalistic standards and often break news other newspapers wouldn't, and at the same time we all know the newspaper business is in a difficult place and they need to earn money to survive.
The pauperization of the news landscape in the US (and everywhere else) due to commercial interests and ideological bipartisanship is a story that cannot be told enough, but this road movie without a script accuses all the wrong people.
Not a wikileaks fan anymore.
