FILM REVIEW: Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden
The problem with viewing a political documentary is that it’s rather hard to leave your own political biases at the door. Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? has to tread a fine line between giving those agreeing with Spurlock more information than they already know, and giving the basics to the unconvinced.
Borrowing its name from the computer game series Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and framed by a Street Fighter-esque battle stage, this film relies upon the trademark humour of Morgan Spurlock to both ridicule and explore the war on terror, as he hunts down the world’s most wanted man in order to make the world a safer place for his unborn child.
Indeed, Spurlock’s family are a recurring theme in the documentary, on the one hand to give a sense of the timeline he was working on, and on the other to remind the audience of what is at stake.
The war on terror is, of course, being waged to make the world safer for our children and our families - and at least in America, that’s the view presented through the media, the good of ‘us’ and the evil of ‘them’ in an absolutist struggle of good against evil.
The US of A is as always committed to protecting human freedoms and rights. However, as Morgan Spurlock cleverly illustrates in a cartoon sequence, it’s historically been a case of ‘your rights for our freedom’ as America created and/or propped up dictatorships around the world to protect American interests.
Implicit in this of course, is the notion that the current spate of terrorism is really the chickens coming home to roost. Cleverly, Spurlock leaves it to the people of the Middle East to state this explicitly, rather than make the argument himself.
Indeed, unlike Supersize Me, Spurlock is much less aggressive in this film, possibly for safety reasons but possibly because of the political nature of the film lending itself more to listening rather than speaking.
While reliant on the humour of Spurlock asking random people “Do you know where I can find Osama Bin Laden?”, there’s very little doubt that Spurlock never intended to find the world’s most wanted man.
His eventual failure is expected and, over the course of his conversations, justified by the recurring comments from both civilians and military who swear Osama is not the problem: Osama is a symptom of the poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunities that allows religious extremism to flourish and secure a steady supply of converts. In the words of one old lady, “F*ck Osama. And f*ck America too”.
I personally find it disappointing that Spurlock ignored the phenomenon of the educated terrorist. In focusing on the poverty of the recruits, he neglects to bring out education of the ringleaders - both in terms of Al Qaeda and the historic terrorist groups who have come before.
That being said, I think Spurlock does an admirable job of filling in the blanks in the story of terrorism, and in telling the story of the people it is affecting on a daily basis - all with his side splitting, trademark humour.
While the premise of Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? continues to ring a little false, it is difficult to hold it against him given the depth of narrative and the insights he gets people to reveal about themselves and their situation.
The film also paints a rather gloomy picture about governments in general in the fight against terrorism. Governments, Morgan feels, get in the way of communication and understanding. Rather, he says we have to build bridges at the civilian level and grow from there.
On the day I saw the film, I was joined by a group of Australian students and a Muslim family with their two small children. If bringing people together was the purpose of this film - Spurlock may just have succeeded.
Originally published on Arts Hub Australia.