Osama and I
Name Morgan Spurlock and almost everyone will equate him with the funny, yet shocking attempt into the American fastfood lifestyle of Supersize Me. Having also enjoyed a level of infamy with his reality television series, 30 Days, and inspired by the need to make his unborn child safe in a world that he feels is beset by all manner of social ills, Spurlock decides to take on his biggest challenge yet, and that is to search for the most dangerous terrorist in this day and age. What he plans to do when he finds Osama is never really answered, however.
Unlike a majority of documentaries, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden introduces humour in a genre that is usually approached with much seriousness, great caution and bulletproof vests. Light-hearted moments exist throughout the film, especially when American cultural references fall flat on some individuals throughout the Muslim world, for instance, when an Afghan chief airs the prospect of a creating Tora Bora theme park in the near future(no, seriously, water-slides and the works), he is dumbstruck when Spurlock refers it as Tora Bora: The Bomb. Also prominent is video game premise that switches between locations in the Middle East ala-Street Fighter, and the superimposed faces of terrorists on baseball trading cards.
Morgan’s exploits find him talking to several different people from the Middle East, ranging from the shantytowns of Morocco to the radical fundamentalist structure of Saudi Arabia, interviewing not just politicians, but also journalists, US soldiers, and most especially the man on the street, be it the largely hostile Orthodox Jewish street in Israel, or the Egyptians who more than gladly accommodate him with their supper. We also find that our intrepid presenter is unafraid of asking questions that would make the rest of us worry, such as the current whereabouts of the al-Qaeda number one, or what they think of the United States. Additonally, the documentary breaks off from its path every once in a while to display the relationship betwen Spurlock and his expecting girlfriend.
Although the idea of pinpointing Osama bin Laden starts off as the primary objective, it progresses into a MacGuffin towards the end of the documentary. We find that Morgan’s journey through the Middle East is not so much the netting of the world’s most wanted man, but more of an view into the mind behind the ordinary Muslim, their frustrations with corrupt governments and the lack of understanding stemming from direct American foreign policy.
In this regard, the title may be a bit misleading because Morgan never actually meets an al-Qaeda spokesman, much less Bin Laden himself, and neither does he go through the proper channels as compared to the attempts of others before him (Robert Fisk). Instead, he contends with relatives and confidants of well-known Islamic militants, and while they are greatly critical of the U.S. government, they have no compunction to accommodate Spurlock and his questions.
He also leaves out on travelling to significant countries such as Iran or Iraq where al-Qaeda was said to operate from (according to the Bush administration, at least), though he makes up for it by paying a visit to the Taliban frontlines of Afghanistan, and the troubled regions of West Pakistan.
While not as enjoyable as his other productions, Where in the World is Osama bin Laden is nonetheless thought-provoking and grants an badly needed insight into the Middle East for the audiences of the Western Hemisphere, especially where McCain-Palin supporters (although a minority) are scared to death about supposedly secret Muslims and the Arabs who are all out to get them.
You are left with a realization that while the Muslim world holds a great disdain for the actions of the U.S. government, they generally have no problem with its people, except for a few extremists on both sides of the fence. More than anything however, this film promotes one thing that a great number of the Western media fails to accomplish, and that is the honest discussion to understand the motives behind the 9/11 attacks, and why America is not not winning the War on Terror.
Rating: 7/10
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