Sundance. Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?

"Perhaps the most anticipated documentary of this year's festival, Morgan Spurlock returns to Sundance with Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden, a follow up his 2004 debut, the piquant Super Size Me," writes Mike Raffensperger at Zoom In Online. "Thankfully, the film is about much more than a singular manhunt, evolving into a primer on the history of geopolitical affairs in the Middle East, particularly that of applied American foreign policy."

Updated through 1/25.

"Inspired by the impending birth of his first child, Spurlock hits upon one thing he can do to make the world a safer place for his yet-to-be-born offspring; find and capture Osama bin Laden," writes James Rocchi at Cinematical. "As Spurlock notes in his introduction, 'If I've learned anything from big budget action films, it's that complicated world problems are best solved by one lonely guy....' And while Spurlock may not actually answer the question of where, he actually tackles, with humor, probing wit and a certain grace, the much more important question of why."

In the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Day answers the question posed in the title and adds, "It may seem like I'm spoiling the movie, but I'm really not. Because as Spurlock himself discovers in his odyssey across the Middle East, Bin Laden the man is beside the point now. His ideas and followers have grown much larger than anything a single person could hope to harness and locating him would do nothing to stop the horrific tide of violence in that part of the world."

"We started with the intention of actually finding the man, but at the end of the story, of course it comes out that we didn't find him," Spurlock tells the New York Sun's S James Snyder. "But there are so many other answers here as to what helps create someone like Osama bin Laden, what pushes rational people to come to him with this idea of, 'If I strap myself with explosives, it will solve these problems.'" And Snyder adds: "Mr Spurlock, who uses an array of techniques to make Where in the World seem lighter in tone - from cartoon sequences to a subplot involving the birth of Mr Spurlock's first child to a mock-up of a video game that pits a digitized Mr Spurlock against a digitized Mr bin Laden - said he believes his more humorous approach to the subject matter will have a better chance of connecting with audiences that have thus far ignored a wave of Iraq-based documentaries and dramas."

"[Y]ou'd assume he knew nothing about the War on Terror - which should make pic very appealing for those who know nothing about the War on Terror," writes John Anderson in Variety.

Updates, 1/24: "As Super Size Me proved, Spurlock is no journalist; rather, he is a direct activist with a camera who tries to use his platform to engage audiences in an age where the blizzard of technology and information causes people to lose sight of one basic truth." Jeremy Kay talks with him for the Guardian.

"Comparisons to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 are well deserved," writes Kevin Buist at the SpoutBlog. "Both rely heavily on darkly comic animated history lessons about the underbelly of American foreign policy. These segments are very entertaining, but also frustratingly simple."

Online listening tip. James Rocchi talks with Spurlock for Cinematical.

Update, 1/25: "I wearied of the director's 'Global Politics for Dummies' schtick long before he did," writes the Boston Globe's Ty Burr. "There are some laughs and a few insights, but mostly I found myself wanting a good policy wonk to put things in perspective."

Posted by dwhudson at January 23, 2008 1:13 AM