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Documentary-maker Spurlock is determined to make the world a safer place for his unborn child. So he sets out to discover the whereabouts of the world’s most wanted man: Osama bin Laden. It doesn’t matter that he has no knowledge of Arabic, no military experience and no idea what to do if confronted by terrorists. But after a few lessons with soldiers of fortune he heads to the Middle East to do what the CIA, FBI and the world’s armed forces have failed to; find bin Laden. Before that he tries to find out where the fugitive came from, what makes him tick and what made him what he is…
Morgan Spurlock comes across as the more anarchic younger brother of documentarians such as Michael Moore. He goes for hot button topics and approaches them with visual flair and a sense of the absurd. Sure, there may be talking head interviews with key players, but there are also quirky animations that show Spurlock’s worries for his unborn child, the clash between US foreign policy and various dictators (courtesy of Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty), the link between church and state in the Middle East and what might be going on in Osama bin Laden’s head. He also explains his quest through a mocked-up computer game and shows bin Laden’s second-in-command as a Top Trumps card. He doesn’t focus on his preparations for too long, tripping through the various inoculations he has to take and his weapons and tactical training in snappy montages. He inter-cuts all the flashy effects with man-on-the-street interviews and vox pops of people in various Arab countries, most of whom tell him the fugitive is “somewhere in the mountains”.
We see the suspicion towards the United States in an interview with hand-picked students from a Saudi Arabian school, which ends abruptly when the teacher thinks Spurlock has overstepped the mark. Perhaps surprisingly for a man from a country that has staunchly supported Israel (to the tune of fifty-eight percent of its foreign aid), we see the director almost being lynched by Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem as he asks their opinions on bin Laden. He also uses newsreel footage of key events and underlines the poverty most people in the region are living in and the radical Islamic sermons they are subject to. So you get a sense of the world bin Laden has come from.
But despite all the flashy visuals, it never feels as though Spurlock is getting down to the nitty-gritty of the issues. For all his bravado, the whole production feels like a stunt devised to bring more notoriety to the director, rather than open up serious discussions on deeper issues. It seems like a beginner’s guide to bin Laden and the extremist school of thought he comes from. It occasionally feels as though the director is treating his audience like idiots – particularly in his tendency to subtitle conversations with people that are entirely comprehensible. The speedy pace and the filmmaker’s cheeky demeanour carry the film to a certain extent. But there is an awful lot of fluff and very little substance. So once the credits roll after ninety minutes, you’ll have learnt nothing new.
The screenplay by Spurlock and co-writer Jeremy Chilnick has a shaky central premise; Spurlock wanting the world to be a safer place for his unborn child. His theory is that if the whole of the Western world’s security forces can’t find bin Laden, then why not go the action movie route and send in one man to do the job? That is what makes the movie feel like a stunt. If the writers were more interested in the issues of fundamentalism than how close the writer-director could get to bin Laden, I think we’d have a meatier documentary. Spurlock’s progeny-to-be also offers the star a big get-out clause, which he takes, leaving the audience feeling cheated come the end. The film is less about what makes bin Laden tick and more about the filmmaker challenging his own prejudices. It often feels as though Spurlock is taking the easy way out, going on a scenic trip through Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, Israel and Saudi Arabia, picking up anecdotes and opinions, instead of pushing the real issues. And the longer the film goes on, the less enthusiastic he seems to be about reaching his goal. You get the impression that he got funding for the production and then realised he didn’t want to go through with it. Of course, by then he’d already paid for the kitsch computer game graphics and cel animations. So after the first hour, the documentary peters out into a series of dull interviews and banal video diaries before dribbling to a halt.
The big revelation of the whole project is that (gasp!) Muslims are ordinary people too, with the same hopes and fears as good old Christian folk back in the US. It’s a disappointing conclusion that won’t be news to anyone au fait with current affairs. Nor do we get to know anything new about the titular subject, with the writers walking in the footsteps of those who have gone before – poverty and religious extremism can often go hand-in-hand – wow!
Your enjoyment of the film will depend largely on your opinion of Morgan Spurlock. If you see him as an irreverent antidote to the bleeding heart liberalism of Michael Moore, then you’ll probably love it. But if you see him as shameless, smirking self-promoter, then you’ll probably hate it. I fall somewhere in the middle. I think he has good screen presence and a flair for exciting visuals to get his message across, but I want to see less stunts and more substance from him.
The music comprises a set of stock music motifs – music box chimes for the opening reveal of Spurlock’s impending fatherhood, jangly electric guitar for his one-man army plan and cheesy rock for his army training. The Middle East is represented by strummed guitar and taut Arabic pipes and traditional Arabic music rendered in synthesizer. His ride-along with the Israeli bomb squad is accompanied by military snare drum and brass. The only original track is a hectic number called “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” which is packed to the rafters with double bass, banjo and Hammond organ. It fits the anarchic style of the documentary. The other soundtrack choices include a blowsy version of “What a Wonderful World?” a comic use of “U Can’t Touch This” and the up-tempo “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” that tries to distract from the disappointing finale. Overall the music fits the project but is predictable.
“Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” is a fun introduction to US foreign policy for the uninitiated. However, if you already have a grasp of current affairs, then this is going to feel totally redundant. Despite all the flashy and entertaining animated explanations during the first two-thirds of the film, it soon runs out of ideas and doesn’t tell us anything new. It’s also marred by a cop-out ending. It’s the sort of thing that would be useful to teachers introducing pupils to the issues, but to anyone who already understands them, then it’s inessential and forgettable.
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