Filmmaker Jehane Noujaim documents Al Jazeera, the independent news outlet based in Qatar. This cinema verité tour-de-force centers on the first days of the war in Iraq and redefines key events in the media war that unfolded. Candid and evenhanded, the film allows characters to develop, particularly a chain-smoking Al Jazeera realist and a US CentCom spokesman. The bustling behind-the-scenes narrative offers many insights to an American audience, including the tenderness of the Al Jazeera staff after one of their reporters dies.  NK