WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN? (Morgan Spurlock) 93 minutes. Opens Friday (May 16). For venues and times, see listings. Rating: NNN
In his new doc, Morgan Spurlock gets his head out of his own ass and wants Americans to do the same.
Whereas Super Size Me was an egotistical wank, the soulful Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? tries to give notoriously under-travelled America (only 32 per cent of U.S. citizens own a passport) a sense of the real world.
Spurlock goes to hot spots like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Israel – where he shot a particularly upsetting sequence at the Wailing Wall – ostensibly to search for the world’s most notorious terrorist.
Ultimately, he stops looking for bin Laden and starts listening to people about America’s war on terror, and finds some hope along the way.
Spurlock isn’t yet over his smart-alecky phase – he likes the dumb trailer for the movie that mocks conservative cultures that he visits. Animated sequences don’t work, and his heavy-duty security training prior to travelling shouldn’t be played for laughs.
But by the end, Spurlock has actually been changed by his experience and grasps why America’s reputation in the Middle East has gone further into the tank.
