“Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?”
So this past weekend I went to see Morgan Spurlock’s new documentary “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” To be honest I was a little worried, and when some of the opening scenes of the film were filled with a videogame-esque battle between Spurlock and bin Laden those worries were quickly becoming justified.
Well I probably shouldn’t have worried too much. I personally love the show he did for the FX Network, 30 days (you can get a copy of the show here
The ’search for Osama’ is quickly pushed to the background as we start to examine the lives of these people living in the Middle East. How they feel about the United States and Bin Laden: the truth is they tend to hate both. In fact they aren’t too different from many Americans, let’s face it, a large portion of the world thinks bin Laden and Bush are both assholes. What’s refreshing, however is that the majority of people Spurlock spoke too in Egypt, Morocco, and Palestine were very quick to explain that it is not the American people that they take issue with, but with the American foreign policy. It’s an attitude I wish the Bush administration would pick up while they are busy labeling the Middle East as a centre of evil.
Perhaps one of the more disturbing points in the documentary is when a man who had contact with a few top members in Al-Qaeda, stated that the wa in Afghanistan and Iraq is exactly what they wanted. That is, Al-Qaeda flew airplanes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in order to start a war in the middle east; the US played right into their hands. It’s a very scary thought.
The people of the middle east were overwhelmingly sick and tired. Sick and tired of bin Laden claiming to represent them and Islam, sick and tired of the US propping up undemocratic regimes and sick and tired of the violence and terrorism that has a growing presence due to the increasing war and poverty. Although Spurlock never touched on this, to me it became very apparent that these are the people we should be listening to when it comes how to combat terrorism. They are seeing first hand the level of desperation that is leading people to join up with various terrorist organizations.
I would definitely recommend seeing it if you can find it, the release seems pretty limited. In Toronto it’s playing at the Cumberland 4 Cinemas.
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