Review of Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) by Jarod P — 24 Apr 2008

This film will be disappointing to the masses expecting the same type of easy conclusions as the sugary, smooth medicine of "Super Size Me". It's...what's the word I'm looking for? You know that thing that journalists are supposed to express but never do? Oh yeah, objectivity.

There's really nothing to debate here, no unique story to tell, no new huge issue tackled, and no innocent to root for. Doing so using the approach that the film uses would make it approximately 2,000 hours long.

Really, the only notable distinction to be found--and it becomes the axis of the film--is the turning over of obvious stones left tragically untouched by the evening news: widely neglected human condition observations of everyday people living in the Middle East.

I think what the filmmaker was trying to do here was reach out to us in the only way we understand. He's taking charge as our fearless leader but also making us understand just how much of an out of water fish he is, as we would be in the Tora Bora mountains.

The spectacular culture-shock of an average, shockingly naive American goof ball wandering in Tora Bora is unsettling to the viewer, but it's also put on display as a service to the film's tone, and meant to engage the viewer.

Does it work? Yes and no. At the end of the day, it's still unpolished, loosely edited, and its entertainment value pretty inconsistent. It by-and-large ignores any sort of political stance, and some might find it pretty uneventful.

You likely won't be moved or inspired while watching it, but rather afterward, when you realize that this is the first time you've seen this type of content in a mainstream film. There are no horrific pictures of mangled bodies and the Middle East is not depicted as some isolated place on another planet that we never have to deal with.

Nor is it depicted as a symbol of hope for the rest of world showing great promise. It refrains from harping on emotions and does a fair job of informing us. The truth is that the Middle East is in Limbo.

It's locked in a position aimed at maybe one day, but probably not soon, improving. It's an interesting film and it's genuine, but not especially compelling to the knee-jerking reactionaries, to whom this kind of film really counts with nowadays.

In a time when corporate media conglomerates and Michael Moore are some people's only options for current events, Morgan Spurlock is the "little guy" that downtrodden people love to praise.

You're better off seeing this movie than skipping it.