Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

Plot synopsis:
After some comical animations involving Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the film shows Spurlock visiting various countries associated with or affected by Bin Laden. The film contains short interviews with many people about Bin Laden and Islamic fundamentalism, and about the US and its war on terror. Supposedly Spurlock searches for Bin Laden, and he even asks people at random in the street where he is. The film is intercut with images of Spurlock's wife in the late stages of her pregnancy. Much of Spurlock's commentary is based on the concerns of a new father.
Spurlock visits Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
In Afghanistan, guarded by about 21 Afghan soldiers, he visits Tora Bora. A local government official is shown who wants to change it into an amusement park. Spurlock is also shown on a US Army patrol as an embedded journalist.
Spurlock is shown hesitating to enter the area of Pakistan near the Afghan border where Bin Laden is at the time, which is closed to foreigners, and deciding not to go there, arguing that it is not worth the risk. He concludes that the people in the countries he visited are ordinary people just like himself and the audience.

Tags: satire

Review:
My biggest complaint with Morgan Spurlock's last film SUPER SIZE ME was the inevitable feeling that you always got when a director narrates/stars in his own work: the risk that what he says and does can intentionally or unintentionally come off as really presumptuous, sometimes resulting talking down to an audience rather than educating or inspiring.
is a near-perfect mix of style.In the beginning of the film we learn Morgan's wife is pregnant, prompting him to ask himself, "How can I allow my child to grow up in such an unsafe world?" Though definitely tongue-in-cheek, this average and perfectly legitimate question leads him to the question of global terrorism and he decides to do what anyone in any big budget American action film does: a stupid ordinary guy fights back.
Using his wife's pregnancy as a backdrop, he travels to Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, and finally Pakistan to attempt to come to the conclusion of where Osama bin Laden is.As an American college student, I can safely say that I am aware that the United States' foreign policy has not exactly put us in a good image for the rest of the world.
Morgan Spurlock investigates what seemingly completely different cultures think of us and attempts to break the barriers of what common American propaganda has taught us about the Middle East.
It does not feel like he is preaching to you, but you and him are both on this journey, from speaking to the Jews about Palestinians and the Palestinians about Jews, to finding relatives of known terrorists who watch professional wrestling and having dinner with farmers in the ghettos of Iraq while discussing raising kids.It helps illuminates one of the world's greatest disappointments: how the people who are the most extreme and the most negative are the only people we care to think about, how the moderates majority's opinions are not represented, and ultimately how people are alike all over despite cultural barriers and popular stereotypes.
Take a look at how many of the reviewers think they were enlightened by the movie to stop being ignorant Americans, but like some kind of shameful stereotype come to life, don't realize even after viewing the movie, that Pakistan is not part of the Middle East!
He made a highly entertaining film that has a real message that needs to be seen and heard by everyone.No matter where he went - Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco - you name it, the people were dismissive of Osama bin Laden and felt that he was responsible for their lives being so bad.
Based on the critical and box office woes of WITWIOBL, it would seem no one in the USA wants to hear the truth about the so-called War on Terror.Spurlock might be preaching to the choir of informed critics who know exactly why the US is globally detested, but right here in the good old US of A, he's asking the masses to swallow a very bitter pill.
All actions have resultant repercussions and if you consider that US foreign policy has marginalized, oppressed and killed millions of people, then is it any surprise when the victims bite back?There's one particular interview with one of Spurlock's subjects that basically makes us ask: if the US military can describe civilian casualties as "collateral damage," then what do you call the innocent Americans killed by a Jihadist's attack?
Morgan goes to several Middle East countries, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan to interview the average person on the street mostly to get their views on Osama Bin Laden.We get a glimpse of people in these countries to get their views on Osama including all ages, young and old.
The film begins with Spurlock deciding to seek out Osama bin Laden in order to make the world safer for his unborn child.
Rather, Morgan seems to want to make a travelogue, casually name-dropping the OBL when ever the moment strikes him to do so.Granted, Morgan does visit some hot zones, such as the Gaza Strip, Tora Bora and Taliban territory, but we all know that Osama ain't there, and it's more about adding colour to the film then advancing his search.It's a good watch for the conversation and the inside-stories, but a bad watch for those who actually want to see just how close can one man get to OBL.
Although the title makes it sound like it will be interesting and it is directed and written by Morgan Spurlock from Super Size Me which was a very engaging, original film, Where in the World is neither of those.It follows Morgan as he travels to the Middle East in search of- you guessed it- Osama Bin Laden.
Morgan Spurlock's "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" is so utterly offensive and shallow that it makes you wonder whether his success with "Super Size Me" was a fluke, and also if this exploration of the fear the threat of terrorism has generated was little more than an excuse to avoid the daily rigours of his wife's impending child birth.
Spurlock's ultimate lesson through the ordeal is that there are people in the Middle East who are just as concerned with the state of the world as they bring up their babies  something we all know by now.
So off he goes on a tongue-in-cheek – but, at the same time, deadly serious - tour through some of the most dangerous places on Earth in search of the Most Wanted Man in the universe.So, after getting his inoculations, a little defense and survival training, some language lessons and tips on fashion, Spurlock is off and running on his journey.He makes stops in Egypt, Morocco, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and, finally, Pakistan (where most experts believe bin Laden is hiding out, if, indeed, he's alive at all) and, in each of those places, he discovers that people are just people, regardless of their religious and sectarian differences, and that the vast majority of them want pretty much the same thing: to earn a decent living, to provide for their families, and to see their children grow up in a world where people are free to live at peace with one another.Not that he doesn't encounter individuals who express support for bin Laden and al Queda and sympathize with their causes - just that such people appear to be in the minority, even in that part of the world.Spurlock is unsparing in his criticism of America for propping up dictators in these areas and for funding their brutal regimes, thereby providing a fertile breeding ground for present and future terrorists.
This leads to the most bizarrely incongruous and darkly amusing image in the film: that of an opulent, state-of-the-art mall swarming with women shoppers covered from head to toe in black burkas.While Spurlock is dead serious in his intentions, his tone in "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?" is refreshingly light-hearted and gleefully ironic.
After Super size me...this is one hell of a movie...coz taking into consideration....this ain't one of those typical boring documentaries about the Muslim world...but way of documentary making is something that one can enjoy as well as learn a great deal, about Muslims, what they have to say about the US, about osama..breaking many myths built by the international media that Muslims hate America...the people Morgan confronts aren't politicians or officials but people...common people who have to face the ground reality..which news channels do not speak about.You must watch it!.
Well, if you are Morgan Spurlock, writer and director of Supersize Me!, you put down your burger, get your shots and head to the Middle East to shoot a documentary about your mock serious search for the world's most wanted terrorist.
If I've learned anything from big budget action movies it's that complicated global problems are best solved by one lonely guy crazy enough to think he can fix everything before the credits roll." Spurlock begins his quest for OBL (as he calls him) with his tongue firmly in his cheek but as he travels through Egypt, Israel, Afghanistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian West Bank and realizes the depth of anti-American feeling the tone of the film becomes sombre and introspective.
Riding with a Jerusalem bomb squad to check out a suspicious-looking package, heading into "hard core Taliban country" with a US military patrol or approaching total strangers in a crowded Arab marketplace and asking them if they can put him in touch with Osama bin Laden Spurlock is witty, smart, observant and unflappable.
I imagine like most viewers, I am NOT fluent in every language of the world and so, when, for example, Morgan asks something like "What do you hope for in the future for your children?" and the long response in (I presume) Arabic brings peals of laughter, I am left totally bewildered wondering (and, of course, WANTING TO KNOW) what was said.I imagine that, had I known, I may have found this a most interesting and enlightening documentary but, as it is, what a waste of time!.
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning Morgan Spurlock (remember, the guy who ate all the food on the McDonald's menu?) suddenly learns that his girlfriend is pregnant with his first child and, amongst all the other emotions that must be running around in his head, he thinks: I've got to make this world a safer place for her to grow up in and, since the CIA and the American Special Forces, with all their technology and man-power, haven't managed to do it, I will achieve said safer world by hunting down and claiming the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden.
His hunt takes him from Egypt, to Morrocco, to the East Bank in Palestine, to Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tora Bora in Afghanistan, and Pakistan, interviewing possible leads along the way, interviewing key religious figures on each side of the religious war as well as hearing from everyday people in these war torn, repressed countries their views views on Americans around the world and their foreign policy.So Spurlock, the man probably best remembered for 'the McDonalds experiment' film Super Size Me in 2004, has a sudden need to find the number one terror link in the world to make the world safer for his newborn child?
If you're of the viewpoint that they deny it to keep the war effort going, that's what you think, but Spurlock obviously feels there is some point to his new film, so that's why he made it.It's easy to compare the guy to another famous modern documentarian, Michael Moore, with his use of humour to accentuate serious subject matter.
Here, Spurlock actually seems less interested in hunting for bin Laden than plugging the message to the world that' we only hate muslims because of what the American media show us, most of them are really decent, ordinary people like you and me.' While this is undoubtedly true, it detracts from the point of the film and is pretty obvious.
In fact, it says a lot that these are the people he receives the most hostile reaction from, encountering aggression when visiting an area where a sign asks (commands) male passers by not to go through their area in 'immodest dress', showing it's not just muslims who haven't got rid of out-dated ideas in the modern world and who adhere too tightly to dress codes.Spurlock ditched his original idea (probably knowing he was really on a wild goose chase) and instead spends most of his film trying to plug his left wing ideologies to the audience.
Of course it will be silly to presume that this film can find the answers to the multi-million dollar question, or even come close to it, so just what was the intention?Morgan Spurlock isn't new to controversy, having burst onto the documentary scene with his real life gorging on MacDonald's for every meal in order to drive home the point that junk food really does junk your well being.
Spurlock also takes opportunity to slam the US foreign policy, and does so through a hilarious animated sequence involving Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty herself, in what would be a realistic case of sleeping with the wrong bedfellows.Bringing the camera from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, and interview people from both the state of Palestine and Israel, what he had presented were compelling arguments for and against, as well as plenty of moderate views that seek to debunk the bulk of western media who find delight in demonizing those in the Middle East.
Naturally there were some feathers ruffled, especially when dealing with closed cultures who clam up, or intolerant folks who have no qualms in using violence, but in general, this documentary serves to be rather tame.Yes it's gimmicky in its title, and half the time you're not sure whether MXXSpulock will take that plunge and really head to where he will likely find some inkling of positive leads, but what it had presented instead, is something more powerful that this world really needs to reach out and have everyone taking a more tolerant attitude and to understand one another a lot more, to avoid conflict.
Too bad the movie was nowhere near as good.Right from the moment the film starts, there is something off-putting about Where in the World is Osama bin Ladin?
He starts the film off looking like someone who is educated and knows what he is doing, but then quickly transforms almost into a movie about Spurlock acting like an arrogant American stereotype, and not trying very little to adjust the image his interview subjects have of him or his country.
While happy he's finally going to be a father, Spurlock is also concerned about his unborn child's safety: how is it possible to raise a kid when no one has been able to find the world's most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden?
In fact, it is perhaps to consider it a comedy rather than a documentary, from the spot-on prologue to the hilarious video game-like opening credits (complete with absurd titular song), with the climax being the famous shot of Spurlock outside the Tora Bora caves (Bin Laden's alleged hiding place in Afghanistan), yelling: "Yoo hoo, Osama?".
Of course saving for the future, educating from a young age and moving to a good area flash through his mind but instead Spurlock decides that the most productive thing he can do is head out to the Middle East in an attempt to locate and capture terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden.I really liked Super Size Me. It used a gimmick to build an effective and engaging documentary into the importance of diet and the impact of poor eating.
The film just about starts out this way as Spurlock essentially uses his gimmick as an introduction to a couple of the countries of the Middle East where he superficially explores politics and discovers, hey, they're just people  just like us yeah?
Ultimately what we end up with is lots of bemused reactions to the question "where is Osama?" It is a real shame but for some reason Spurlock has aimed his film at people who do not get access to any news coverage outside of their own country.
In "Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden" Morgan Spurlock is more concerned with educating an American public whose majority will never travel outside this country and therefore will never meet the very same people that are typically vilified on our news.
His rehearsed, pandered surprise at the world outside of Manhattan shows a man who doesn't think squat of his audience's own comprehensions on the Middle East since 9/11 and his film ends up becoming just as shallow as his phony-baloney egoist brand of "documentaries".And only Spurlock seems equipped to turn his cultural ignorance into cultural arrogance  completing his transformation into a boorish man-with-a-camera into a Michael Moore-ish buffoon oblivious to his own chicanery.
Following his inciting movie that changed the junk food industry, SUPER SIZE ME (2004), Morgan Spurlock, insurrectionist, free thinker, junk food eater, has encapsulated on film the issue on every adult mind on Earth since September 11, 2001.WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?
Like Michael Moore, he is not afraid to be a player in his movie, sarcastic and personable, making it entertaining to delve into politically charged topics.Spurlock's idea, "To catch a fox, think like a fox," makes him wonder how bin Laden arrived at his jihadist frame of mind through his life influences.
Film ends with Morgan Spurlock never finds out where Osama bin Laden is, but Elvis Costello's closing song, (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding, solidifies the thrust of the film - not to discover and kill one man whose death will do nothing, but to open the minds of the world so they won't need iconic figureheads to fight for or against.--Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania)..
He goes around to different countries and has interviews with: Family members, public officials, Muslim clerics, students, and the common people walking down the street.He asks them where Mr. Bin Laden is, just to provide some humor...
Not quite up to Morgan Spurlock's superlative documentary SUPER SIZE ME, WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN is still topical and interesting.
Upon retrospect and re-reading the review I gave to Spurlock's first film Super Size Me, it turns out that I am giving this one the same score out of ten but somehow Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden just isn't nearly as heartfelt, informative, nor mind changing.
You don't feel like it's a documentary and he just simplifies everything and tries to make it a personal, important experience but with Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden it just didn't feel like he had the passion behind it.