Salient

Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden

By Haimona Peretini Gray | 7 Jul, 2008

Where In The World is a conversation-starter for ADD-stricken adolescents who can’t bear to think about one thing for too long, or too deeply.

The films tries to tackle the issue of tracking down the world’s most infamous terrorist in the same way as a child, showing the size of his own ego at almost every turn. But the film isn’t really about finding Osama Bin Laden. It’s about his journey though the Middle East, asking the question “why do you hate us?” to its inhabitants, while symbolising every reason that they should.

Luckily we are saved from the naïve pontificating and dumbed-down history lectures at drown the films of Michael Moore by a bright candy shell of animation and self-satisfied jokes. The light moments that would’ve worked in his previous film Super Size Me, are at odds with the importance of its subject. It tries to be a light film on a serious subject and that is the funniest part of the film.

The primary problems are the same ones that plague Moore‘s films: the disingenuous yet snotty tone, and the way Spurlock demands that viewers giggle at his flippant adolescent humour one minute, and trust his sincerity a moment later. At least Spurlock’s messages are generally simple enough that it’s easy to trust his motives and conclusions. But sometimes being on his side is a little embarrassing.