Morgan Spurlock proves that what works for one film won't always work for another. Spurlock directed the hit documentary Super-Size Me a movie that used the hook of eating McDonalds for a month as the basis for a documentary. In that film Spurlock shows the affect his documentary has on his relationship with his girlfriend. He uses animated sequences to tell the story and for the most part Super-Size Me works at being an enjoyable documentary. In Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden Spurlock tries to plug in elements from Super-Size Me and it fails miserably. The movie contains terrible animations involving Osama Bin Laden portrayed as a Wild West villain. This sets up Spurlock as being the hero of the film out to capture the wanted outlaw. The reason for his wanting to capture Bin Laden is because his Wife is about to have his first child and he wants to clean up the world his son is coming into. Adding this personal element to the film is very forced. A lot of documentaries have manipulated elements in them. The key is to disguise these elements. Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden is seemingly incapable of disguising how fabricated it is. That is because in this setting the topic of finding Bin Laden is not enough to base a documentary on. Morgan Spurlock heads off to the Middle East on his quest, and all he does is interview known associates of Bid Laden. He then walks around asking strangers if they have seen Bin Laden and obviously they haven't. Never once does it seem like Spurlock is hot on the trail of Bin Laden. At the end of the film Spurlock has the choice to go into a dangerous part of Pakistan where Bin Laden might be hiding. He is shown in front of a sign that warns foreigners not to proceed any further. Here he decides that the risk involved in finding Bin Laden is not worth it. He returns home just in time for the birth of his son. Nothing about this is authentic and the movie might as well have been called Talking to Middle Eastern People (there just like us).
Monday, May 10, 2010
Banana A Day – Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden ?
Morgan Spurlock proves that what works for one film won't always work for another. Spurlock directed the hit documentary Super-Size Me a movie that used the hook of eating McDonalds for a month as the basis for a documentary. In that film Spurlock shows the affect his documentary has on his relationship with his girlfriend. He uses animated sequences to tell the story and for the most part Super-Size Me works at being an enjoyable documentary. In Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden Spurlock tries to plug in elements from Super-Size Me and it fails miserably. The movie contains terrible animations involving Osama Bin Laden portrayed as a Wild West villain. This sets up Spurlock as being the hero of the film out to capture the wanted outlaw. The reason for his wanting to capture Bin Laden is because his Wife is about to have his first child and he wants to clean up the world his son is coming into. Adding this personal element to the film is very forced. A lot of documentaries have manipulated elements in them. The key is to disguise these elements. Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden is seemingly incapable of disguising how fabricated it is. That is because in this setting the topic of finding Bin Laden is not enough to base a documentary on. Morgan Spurlock heads off to the Middle East on his quest, and all he does is interview known associates of Bid Laden. He then walks around asking strangers if they have seen Bin Laden and obviously they haven't. Never once does it seem like Spurlock is hot on the trail of Bin Laden. At the end of the film Spurlock has the choice to go into a dangerous part of Pakistan where Bin Laden might be hiding. He is shown in front of a sign that warns foreigners not to proceed any further. Here he decides that the risk involved in finding Bin Laden is not worth it. He returns home just in time for the birth of his son. Nothing about this is authentic and the movie might as well have been called Talking to Middle Eastern People (there just like us).
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