SYNOPSIS:
If Morgan Spurlock has learned anything from over 30 years of movie-watching, it's that if the world needs saving, it's best done by one lone man willing to face danger head on, action hero style. So, with no military experience, knowledge or expertise, he sets off to do what the CIA, FBI and countless bounty hunters have failed to do: find the world's most wanted man. Why take on such a seemingly impossible mission? Simple - he wants to make the world safe for his soon-to-be-born child. But before he finds Osama bin Laden, he first needs to learn where he came from, what makes him tick, and most importantly, what exactly created bin Laden...
MOVIE REVIEW:
Okay, so this reviewer isn’t known to his peers as the most academically inclined, most objectively fair or most intelligently capable columnist. But if there’s one thing he’s proud of, it’s his sentimentality for anything that’s slightly affectionate. So when he knew that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock is making this documentary for the sake for his soon to be born baby, this reviewer gets totally bought over. Fatherly love? You’ve got my vote, Mr. Spurlock.
After making his viewpoint on fast food very clear in Super Size Me (2004), Spurlock returns with this social experiment (hmm, we wonder whether this is the best definition to term what Spurlock is doing here) where he attempts to track down the terrorist leader. He goes through self defense training before setting off to the exotic lands of Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Afghanistan, and Pakistan amongst other Middle Eastern countries to, well, find the man known to the world as Osama Bin Laden. Fatherly love? You bet.
Before you accuse Spurlock of exploiting this very real issue in the name of making a film (bring in the box office receipts!), you have to applaud him for coming up with this brilliant idea. Traveling to dangerous (read: political uncertainty and military unrest) lands to prove a point may be trivializing serious issues to the serious viewer, but you have to take your hats of this man for coming up with this rather impressive marketing gimmick.
Once you get over the fact that he may not be doing this for, prepare yourself again, fatherly love, you’d begin to look into the deeper issues which concerns media perceptions, political bias and opinionated ignorance, while enjoying the light hearted approach (which almost finds itself on the brink of being nonsensical) Spurlock has adopted.
How else can you explain the very amusing computer game introduction where an animated Spurlock fights off bad guys – Super Mario style? How else can you explain the very catchy main title song where Jon Spurney sings to the lyrics “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden”? How else can you explain the almost comical way Spurlock travels from land to land, looking like a happy schoolboy on excursion? These are probably attempts by the Oscar nominated filmmaker to make these serious issues more appealing to today’s MTV generation.
So despite what critics say about Spurlock’s approach to presenting something as serious as terrorism, this reviewer is liking this documentary, especially towards the end where he sees and hears the filmmaker’s voiceover about what he wishes for his soon to be born baby. Fatherly love? Definitely.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains no extra features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The disc’s visual transfer is pristine, and the movie is presented in its original English language.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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