There needs to be more documentaries about the middle-east, in my opinion. It's a shame that they resort to scene after scene showing us how cool and normal the common Muslim person is. This shouldn't be necessary, but it's a sad truth that this could be considered groundbreaking and perspective-changing material for it's target audience.Now that I'm done dogging on it... I'll get into why I think this is an 8/10.First of all, it took me by surprise. I was expecting something more along the lines of a rallying cry to find Mr. Bin Laden. The message behind the movie was quite the contrary. Morgan discovers that it's just not worth it. There's such an upset over one person. Osama Bin Laden didn't bring down the trade towers... the dark side of humanity did. Simple as that. There were many people, some that we may not even know about - who were involved in the 9/11 plot.To say that justice will be instantly served with the finding/capture/killing of ONE person is naive. That's the general message of this film. He goes around to different countries and has interviews with: Family members, public officials, Muslim clerics, students, and the common people walking down the street.He asks them where Mr. Bin Laden is, just to provide some humor... But then he starts asking them the juicy; important questions."What do you think about the United States?" "What do they teach you in school about us?" "What's your opinion on Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban?" You find that many of these people are strongly against violence, and hold a skeptical or low opinion about the United States. One thing that is pretty constant, the American people are highly spoken of - while it's government is hated.There's rarely an uneducated or hostile person Morgan comes across. Maybe this is because of selective editing, who knows? I was impressed with the overall direction this documentary took. It was very heartfelt and important to me.

First there was McDonald's, which he targeted with masochistic precision in Super Size Me. Four years later, director Morgan Spurlock went for something bigger, louder and more controversial. The result is tremendously funny most of the time, but unlike fellow provocateur Michael Moore, Spurlock has yet to master the skills required to properly mix sharp sociological commentary and broad comedy.The beginning is a masterstroke in humor: starting with an air view and the usual pretentious-sounding narration, the director says this is one of those days when something is bound to go wrong. Next shot: his girlfriend announces she's pregnant. While happy he's finally going to be a father, Spurlock is also concerned about his unborn child's safety: how is it possible to raise a kid when no one has been able to find the world's most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden? One man, and it's impossible to locate him - that's what bugs Spurlock. In addition, he thinks the reward that's been promised for Bin Laden's capture could be useful to pay for the kid's education.And so he sets out on a journey to some of the most dangerous areas on the planet (i.e. the Middle East), looking for the notorious terrorist leader. First he prepares for the trip visiting the doctor and attending a boot camp where he learns how to survive bombings, then it's off to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel and finally Afghanistan. Wherever he goes, no one seems to know exactly where Osama is. On the other hand, he gets to learn a lot about his country's misconceptions when it comes to Islam traditions.Unsurprisingly, that last part becomes the real focus of the movie: like Moore, Spurlock seizes the opportunity to highlight the shortcomings of America's attitude towards foreigners, and these flaws are exposed with a mixture of seriousness and irony. Unfortunately, none of that is really any news - American prejudice is a well known reality, and we certainly didn't need a Bin Laden-centric documentary to point that out. The director has a point to make, there's no doubt about that, but he can't find a more original way to do it.Whatever the film lacks in poignancy, though, it makes up for in great comedy. In fact, it is perhaps to consider it a comedy rather than a documentary, from the spot-on prologue to the hilarious video game-like opening credits (complete with absurd titular song), with the climax being the famous shot of Spurlock outside the Tora Bora caves (Bin Laden's alleged hiding place in Afghanistan), yelling: "Yoo hoo, Osama?". It's those moments of absurd humor that make Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden? an entertaining watch. Certainly not as memorable as Super Size Me, but then again that's the kind of stuff that happens when you cover all too familiar ground.

Morgan Spurlock is a documentary filmmaker a bit different from the norm. He came to fame with his 2004 documentary, Super Size Me. In Where in the World…, he takes on the topic of terrorism. His style is off-putting to those who think a documentary should be serious and to the point. This film is a combination of MTV, video games, cartoons, and serious journalism. It is very appealing, never dry, and ultimately insightful.He begins by stating that he is about to become a father, and that he wants the world to be safe for his child. Therefore, he goes looking for Bin Laden in order to secure the end of terrorism. It is obvious he is not seriously expecting to find his prey, but it's an entertaining premise.Spurlock travels through Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in his search for Bin Laden. Of course his real goal is to interview the people in these countries to get their opinions of Bin Laden and the United States.In Egypt, he meets with a number of citizens who tell him that they are suffering not because of Bin Laden, but because the United States is supporting Mubarak who is supposedly a freely elected leader but is, indeed, a dictator. From this, Spurlock tangents to a cartoon detailing the history of US support for dictators starting with Franklin D. Roosevelt. This history of US complicity is pretty powerful even though it is in the form of a cartoon. Spurlock brings the viewer to the conclusion that most everyday Egyptians like the people of the United States, but all everyday Egyptians hate the United States government because it supports a dictator in disguise who has made their lives very hard.Spurlock's movements are probably the most restricted in Saudi Arabia. He interviews a number of people but all seem very restrictive leading him to finally expound upon a government so tied in with religion that it suffocates the people with dogma.Not being totally politically savvy, his encounters in Palestine were probably the most revealing to me. The people interviewed pretty much hate Bin Laden and terrorists in general mainly because they use the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as an excuse for their heinous acts. It goes without saying that the Palestinians hate the governments of Israel and the United States for the occupation of their lands.While in Palestine, Spurlock interviews an Israeli woman living in one of the occupied settlements. She actually states that the Israelis deserve to live there because the land was given to them by God - not exactly an enlightened viewpoint.The country least hospitable to Spurlock was Israel. He shows situations in which he was actually physically attacked. But in Israel is where he probably had his most profound encounter. In speaking with an Israeli scholar, the scholar states that everyone in Israel knows that they must leave the occupied territories, and that when they do, there will be peace. He ponders how many years and how many deaths will take place until that inevitable solution is reached.The search is ended - without success of course - in Afghanistan and then Pakistan. These are some of the scariest moments for the filmmakers because there is great danger in both of those countries. As the world knows, the conditions for average citizens in Afghanistan have gotten much worse since the invasion and occupation by the United States. Here the viewer is offered another sobering illustration of the evils of our foreign policy.Even though this documentary might be considered frivolous and light, it gives some interesting insights into the normal citizens of these countries so in the news and the minds of the citizens of the United States. Spurlock certainly leads the viewer to the conclusions he has so skillfully created which might be best summed up by an old man speaking to the filmmaker, "F**k you, f**k Bin Laden, and f**k the United States."

Having watched "Supersize me", I decided to watch this movie thinking it'd be just another "documentary" telling us what anybody with half a brain would already know. Fortunately, I was wrong. The movie is full of small surprises, ranging from a highly divided Islamic world (in which even those who agreed with Osama's JIHAD, or with the war against a power they think is oppressing them, were amazingly polite and well mannered towards a "representative" of such oppression), to the incredibly hostile attitude of some orthodox Jews (supposedly our allies?). A great documentary, not about geography, or about data anybody can find on Wikipedia or the local library, but about people, what they think or feel, and why. If nothing else, the movie proves invaluable just by demonstrating that, not only Muslims are not all evil, bloodthirsty fanatics, but that even those that agree with Al Qaeda understand that Americans are not evil either, and are lucid enough to separate the American people from their government. That to me speaks about much better informed people than we give them credit for.