Morgan Spurlock's Bin Laden Film Has Video Game Feel

Morgan Spurlock's Bin Laden Film Has Video Game Feel

February 14, 2008
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

That's the question posed by Morgan Spurlock's latest film, a work which employs video game-like conventions to spin the Super-Size Me director's examination of the U.S. foreign policy and the so-called war on terror.

Aside from the obvious Carmen San Diego homage in its title, the Hollywood Reporter remarks on the video game angle in the film:
In an entertaining animated sequence that sets up Spurlock and Osama bin Laden as battling video game characters and serves as a framing device throughout the film, the director outlines his mission: travel to a series of Mideast hotspots to investigate bin Laden's background, pinpoint his location and track him down.

Despite the game special effects, the Hollywood Reporter is not high on Spurlock's latest:
Although he makes an amusing comic foil, Spurlock is ill-equipped to either evaluate or report on Middle East foreign policy. His methodology is disturbingly casual and conclusions woefully simplistic. Noticeably lacking is any analysis of the role that oil politics play in the region and how those machinations determine U.S. policy, forming the root of many of the problems he superficially addresses.

No release date has been specified.

Comments

I'm not sure what the reviewer's point is - Osama Bin Laden has never cared about oil, and he doesn't belong to any of the nations the US is invading (ostensibly for oil). A documentary on a search for Bin Laden could easily be made without focusing on oil politics.
It connects to gaming cause he used a gaming construct to illustrate him and bin Laden.

It sounds like an interesting documentary topic and I will see it to see if it sheds any new light on the topic of bin Laden, al Qaeda, Wahhabi'ism, Salifism and the Saudi regime.

For anyone who doesn't know, the bin Laden family made their money by being THE construction company that built the modern cities in Saudi Arabia. I think this movie will fail on substance if it doesn't connect the Saudis promotion of an extremist totalitarian religious ideology with bin Laden's call for the reconstitution of the caliphate system. But we shall see...
@jds

Explain.
Actually, don't. I will now honour Broken Scope's point.
There's nothing much left to be said about the war in Iraq. What else does he think he has to add?

I say, he should make another documentary-movie that really connects with the audience... without the major risk for his health this time!
I would watch this as a comedy akin to Team America World Police.
So, the guy who became famous simply for stating the glaringly obvious is going to take on Bin Laden and the war on terror? I'm not surprised that the Hollywood Reporter says it's a waste of time.
Some people need things simplified. Have you looked at the south east lately? Heh.
I honestly thought when I saw his name in the title that he was planning on joining a terrorist training camp so we could all see the life they live. I can't stand this guy, he gets famous for stating that "Eating McDonalds 24/7 will make you fat" and making a movie about it. Really? Never thought of that. But after reading the story I thought that he was planning on doing want Geraldo did and go to the mid east to kill Bin Laden if he saw him.
uhhh beyond visiting Bin ladens country of origin, you really don't get involved in oil politics.

Its never been about oil to Osama.
"His methodology is disturbingly casual and conclusions woefully simplistic"

A bit like the Bush administration's foreign policy and lame rhetoric then? Bin Laden is still alive because he is the best PR face for terrorism and the US couldn't wage their fake war without him.
To be fair, it has been made public that Clinton signed an order for Osama to be assasinated on sight. They couldn't catch him then, why would we expect it now? Newer tech? Not as much as you'd think. Not that hard to hide in a cave when you see a thousand predator drones filling the skies.
Osama is dead. It's true, I saw a video of it on Youtube.


/sarcasm
GP: "...so called war on terror..." ???

Gimme a break.
i didnt realize i clicked accidentally on the daily koz

why is this 'news' even here to begin with?
@jds

Problem?
I fail to see how this connects to gaming.

And Super Size Me was a great movie.
@BlackIce

Yep.
Oh god lets please not start an argument about the "War on Terror".

Please, nobody on either sides will ever give anything to the other side. Its pointless.
“His methodology is disturbingly casual and conclusions woefully simplistic”

Of course they are. He's Michael Moore's prodigy.
@ Broken Scope
Agreed

@ GP
I spy with my little eye personal imput in a news story.

And why is this guy famous for telling us what we already knew? And how in anyway shape or form does this connect to gaming aside from the title?
Check out Loose Change on youtube and you'll see why he's doing this. I'm sure he meant for these two films to run together.
Hey,

I have a great link for a video profile on the documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. Best known for his 2004 breakout film Super Size Me, he was recently at the SXSW film festival promoting his Oscar nominated film Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? Filmed in the Austin City Limits Studio, Spurlock talks about filmmaking, blogging and interactivity between the two mediums. Here is a link to the video from the website of the show Docubloggers on the PBS station KLRU in Austin, Texas. Enjoy!

http://www.klru.org/docubloggers/?p=262

OR

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7WN4hu63tzM

-Heidi
Morgan Spurlock never ceases to impress me; i just saw Super Size Me, which was amazingly insightful, and now he's making a documentary designed to make people sincerely think about the war on terrorism... well done indeed

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