Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?

Morgan Spurlock and nearly the entire production team talk about making Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden at the film's premier.

PARK CITY

Back in line again at Library Center following the premier of Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden awaiting my fourth screening of the day. We'll see how this goes... I'm exhausted.

So... Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? Leave it to Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame) to turn the subject upside down, dig deeper than you thought possible but still keep a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Here's the deal. Morgan's partner Alex is expecting their first child. Suddenly the current state of the world comes into sharp focus. What kind of a world is this kid going to grow up in when we can't even find one guy supposedly living in a cave? So Morgan, taking a queue from Hollywood films, determines that the perhaps what's needed is for one man to simply go over to the middle east and track him down. So Morgan, being that "one man," does his homework on current events, gets his shots, takes a class on self defense (ie how to defend yourself from grenades, hostage takers, enemy fire, suicide bombers, etc) and heads off to the Middle East to try and track him down.

It's a crazy scheme, but just as with Supersize Me, Morgan manages to uncover a lot of extremely interesting material. How do those in the Middle East really feel about America? How did Osama manage to build such an incredible following? Will it really accomplish anything to bring the man in? What emerges from all this is a uniquely honest portrait of the Middle East and how US foreign policy is shaping the current state of that part of the world. Many of Morgan's findings are expected, but many of them are not.

Morgan's usual wit is apparent here as well, just as it was with Supersize Me. Rather than detract from the subject, the comic elements really help frame the discussion, calling to attention just how insane a lot of this stuff really is.

This film is undoubtedly going to fly at the level of Supersize Me and thus will hopefully really call public attention to some of these issues and incite some much needed change.

This film also saw one of the best Q&As from the fest. Not only did Morgan bring his entire production team, including one of the field producers from Saudi Arabia (who had never seen snow before this week), but also Morgan's partner Alex. With such a huge turnout, it was a great opportunity to ask the tough questions... like "what the hell were you thinking?!" and "how the hell did Alex ever let you go off and do this when you were expecting a child!?"