Review of Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

However I felt that this documentary directed, produced and starring Morgan Spurlock could had been a little more informative on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden during the mid & late 2000s. It didn't really give us any new leads that we haven't heard before. Don't get me wrong, I do understand that Spurlock is not part of some military agency nor hold any foreign intelligence degree within the matter, but he could had gone a little more into detail with his subjects. After all, he only scratch the surface of where he could had gone since the fall of Tora Bora in 2001. The film didn't interview any of his many family members for this piece. Some of them, don't even live in far off dangerous places. They didn't even bother speaking to one of his most fame sibling Yeslam, a Swiss banker on where did his family got their money. He's probably the most open person within the family that's willing to talk. A lot of unanswered questions could had been told through him and others like him. You don't need to be a secret agent to see that talking to well off kin could had led to a lead. There is always family connections and a money trail. It was a wasted potential. After all in the end Osama was found living with one of his wives in a huge out of place mansion compound within Abbottabad, Pakistan at the time of his assassination in 2011. Just think if Spurlock and his producers took the risk to find the family for the piece. Laden could have been captured or killed off years earlier. Instead, Spurlock interviews a number of people unrelated to the infamous terrorist for their take on Osama's beliefs. For the most part, it was still insightful especially with those living in a countries like Egypt before the Arab Spring & Saudi Arabia before Saudi Vision 2030. However, some of the interviews felt like time wasting filler for the sake of comedy. Some of the jokes involving the random strangers are still hilarious. One such example is Morgan bothering Saudis at a mall if they saw the fame terrorist or Spurlock having a laugh with the army troops in Afghanistan. Others random interviews were funny in their own way by how badly they went. Such in the case of the random encounters with conservatives in the West Bank. That was intense. Sadly, Morgan didn't follow that up with talking with many easy going Israelites. Because of that, I felt that the documentary somewhat painted the people in a negative light. Other interviews like the ones involving the Pakistanis felt a bit rushed. The cop out ending with them kinda fall flat. I really thought that Spurlock could had done a lot more in that country. Nevertheless, one thing the movie doesn't do a good job is capturing Bin Laden's past that well. The film didn't mention the origins of Al-Qaeda and how it came to be, through CIA funding and training Afghan mujahedeens in the late 1970s to fight the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Nor does the film talk about how the Taliban even came into power & why the relationship with Osama went sour with American involvement in the Somalia Civil War & the Persian Gulf War. It's sad, because the documentary had the opportunity to explore that during that entertaining cartoon Uncle Sam hanging out in a sleazy bar sequence, but it fail to do so. It was a total waste. Along with that was the absence of mention of Osama's past crimes like Sept 11th attacks, the USS Cole bombing or the blasting of the American Embassy in Kenya & Tanzania for the sake of humor. Because of that omit, I felt the tone of the film was bit jarring. It was all over the place. It didn't know if it wanted to be a silly comedy or a serious journalism piece. Don't get me wrong, the sequence of Spurlock checking out a bomb out school building intercut with the ever changing news of the process of the birth of his child was an emotional scene, but just think if he took the movie overall more serious. It could had been powerful documentary. Nevertheless I still like the appealing use of CGI animation. The cutout like prologue and video game credit opening was unique to see. It was all well done. While Morgan's backdrop motives for the film is kinda weak. The documentary was good enough that Osama himself had a copy of the film at his hideout. Overall: while the film is pretty dated. It's still worth checking after all these years. It's one movie that shouldn't be buried in the sands of times..