Mission: Unlikely

by Caleb Richardson

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? is a documentary by Morgan Spurlock. The film follows Spurlock as he travels the Middle-East “looking” for Osama Bin Laden. Although he is looking for Osama Bin Laden he spends the majority of his time interviewing civilians of the Middle-East. It’s through these interviews we get the true sense of this documentary.

Spurlock starts by trying to clear up some of the confusion that may be the core reason as to why America(ns) are hated so much in the Middle-East. “He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." FDR said this and it is this quote is the leading line of an animated sequence. Spurlock explains that America practices the enemy of my enemy idea. Although we don’t fight side by side we will supply training and supplies to groups from time to time. It’s through this idea however we create our enemies down the line. The example used is that we work with Egypt so closely even though reports of torture and corruption come out of the country. “When it came to our freedom it became ok to sacrifice the freedom of others.” (Spurlock)

The most time spent with people, during interviews, was in people’s home discussing politics and the countries’ relationship with America. This is where the documentary will hit hardest home in America. It was during these interviews we got the most real information about the people of the Middle-East when compared to Fox News. Revealed to us was not only were some of these people sane, but most of these people have families with the same values of Americans. These parents preached of how they so desired to have their children receive a good education and not get swept up in violence. A perfect comparison within our own country could be looking to our past during the 1960’s. Bill Cosby, a black comedian, had an audience love him from both sides of race when the country couldn’t have been more divided on color. “(Cosby’s) routines transcended race by talking about kids and parenting.” (Misch 39)

Everywhere Spurlock went he asked, “Where is Osama Bin Laden?” This question would lead to many different places. During the interviews one other idea became clear: Osama Bin Laden being captured or killed wouldn’t change anything. The Hydra concept, one head is taken two would replace it. When in Pakistan Spurlock asked this question and the civilians always pointed towards the mountain. Most of the people who did this laughed afterwards. It was here that people laughed together and, “When people laugh together, they also agree on a certain ideological alignment, if only for a moment.”(Sands)

The American troops worked very hard to maintain a friendly relationship with the civilians of the Pakistani town Spurlock visited. So when they all laughed together what was this a sign of? Spurlock would like us to believe that one day there will be Peace in the Middle East. As silly as this may sound, the stereotype about Arabic people is that they hate Americans, but he was invited into their homes, shared their food, and was treated with great respect by almost everybody.