Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden - Find it August 26th!

Wed, Aug 13, 2008

Hey all…

In 2004, Morgan Spurlock “Super Sized” us (against our will, I might add) and showed what a steady diet of McDonald’s can do for your girlish figure (not to mention your health). It took me days (weeks? months?) before I was able to shake those images and consume another Quarter Pounder with Cheese.

However, in 2007, Spurlock again had a mission. With his latest movie - Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? -Morgan Spurlock again makes us do something that we Americans seem to hate to do… think.

This movie documents his travels around the world to exotic Middle Eastern locations such as:

Egypt
Morocco
Israel
Palestine
Jordan
Saudi Arabia
Afghanistan
and Pakistan

This journey proves that there are radicals and moderates everywhere, even in those places the media may tell us otherwise. It doesn’t matter if you are Islamic, Christian, Jewish, or any other religious denomination, madness is madness wherever you are.

This type of documentary is a great reminder of the great “War on Terror” debate. How do you declare war on an idea? These radicals, wherever they may live, whatever gods they may pray to, live among good people in their nations and do unspeakable things in the name of their organization’s goals. By saying we have gone to war with these insane people, we have legitimized their role in the world — if I blow stuff up, I get attention, and my drawing attention to myself and my cause, it will bring change. Unfortunately, it’s not always the kind of change we need.

Spurlock asks everyday people in the Middle East simple questions like what they think of the Islamic radicals blowing themselves up in the name of Islam. And the answers are sometimes interesting.

One of the most surprising things to me was the way the Hasidic Jews in Israel treated him at one point during his trip. They were physically pushing him away and out of their neighborhood and being verbally abusive. He was eventually helped out of the situation by Israeli police. But to see such intolerance even there makes me understand that there are radical Jews as well as radical Muslims, and though they may not be as violent, the potential for violence is there. Intolerance is scary stuff.

A telling quote from the movie was from Father Nabil Haddad of the Eastern Orthodox Church in Jordan. I’m paraphrasing a little here, but he said “What our American brothers and friends need is a cultural strategy. Without understanding each other, without mutual respect and understanding, there is no peace.”

I’m not a religious man, but amen to that.

One of my favorite segments was the one of Spurlock touring a Saudi Arabian mall. Nothing like beating you over the head with cultural differences in one of America’s favorite places to go — The Mall!

And his coverage of Afghanistan is heartbreaking. So much damage, so much money spent, but nothing to show for it. It all stays at the top. But beyond that, Spurlock as an embedded journalist was incredible. When the military tells you to get your butt back in the convoy, it’s time to go, no questions asked. They are still a war zone, and it looked the part.

Spurlock has done a good thing by raising the awareness of cultural differences in this “war on terror” so that we can see that it’s not the world that has gone mad, but a few misguided souls causing heartache for us all.

The ultimate question may not be “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” but will finding him make a difference or do we have to figure out what’s important to us as a people, as a world?

Watch it and give it some thought. It’s definitely worth the watch. Plus, it has some cool extras, including the history of Afghanistan done in animation.

This gets a solid 4 out of 4 for me. Was it enlightening and educational? Definitely. Was it entertaining? Yes, and even though I prefer flights of fancy to flights of fact, I think it should be watched by any American wanting another perspective on America’s role in the Middle East.

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden is available for purchase on DVD on August 26, 2008. Check it out!

I wonder what Spurlock is up to next.

Until then… Go see a movie!

–Fitz