WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN?: 2 � STARS
Morgan Spurlock is a likeable guy.
He's the Oscar nominee who revealed the health risks involved in an all-McDonald's diet; in the process gaining 25 pounds in one month for his documentary "Super Size Me." His engaging personality made that film compelling; luring the viewer onside with a mix of everyman charm and movie star charisma. In his first feature film since "Super Size Me" he broadens the canvas from the nutritional woes of Big Macs to the cultural woes of the War on Terror.
Spurlock sets off to find the world's most wanted man, traveling from his adopted hometown of New York City to hot spots like Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In truth the search for Bin Laden is more of what Hitchcock called a McGuffin than an actual mission. It's a plot device to further the story, but ultimately, is of little importance to the overall film. In this case it is the motivator to transport him to the Middle East, but since he has less than no chance of cornering OBL, the movie becomes a travelogue that serves as a framework for Spurlock to discuss the war on terror with the Arabic people.
Some highlights: He encounters the brother of one of the 9/11 hijackers who is convinced his sibling's confession is a Hollywood construct; in Egypt, he meets with the uncle of Osama's right hand man and asks if he'd turn his nephew in for the reward. He stands over a drain in Saudi Arabia where the blood from public beheadings empties. Later in the day, he says, kids will play soccer on the same spot.
Through it all Spurlock appears, not exactly the Ugly American, he's far too amiable to be labeled as such--he's so likeable that at one point anti-American zealots "pray to heaven to destroy you' but add that they hope he's not in America when the great retribution comes--instead he hop scotches around from country to country asking easy questions and making simplistic points.
In testimonial after testimonial people confess to liking Americans but admit they hate the U.S. Government. Is that news? I don't think so, but "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" treats those statements as though they were bon mots ripe with fresh insight. Spurlock and crew traveled to some of the most dangerous places in the world, hotbeds of military activity, only to discover things we already knew. Whatever insight there was to be gained by hitting the road to Afro-Eurasia seems to have been lost on Spurlock's camera.
The resulting movie is earnest, likeable and mildly entertaining, but the Middle East is a complicated place, full of contradictions and, frankly, WITWIOBL? isn't. Likeable and earnest can only go so far when Spurlock doesn't supply the emotional density needed to fully examine the subject of Islam's views of the Western world. He also hasn't yet developed fellow filmmaker Michael Moore's knack for persuasive provocation, so some of his message is lost in the over simplification of his "why can't we all just get along" message.
He deserves points for veering away from the two-minute sound bite world of news, and giving the average Middle Eastern man-on-the-street a chance to speak, but in total "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" is too lightweight and too personality driven to be taken as a serious look at Middle East and Western relations.
