Just saw Morgan Spurlock's movie 'Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden.' Yes, it is definitely worth seeing for yourself. It begins a little goofy with cartoon-style editorials/history lessons about the U.S.'s relationship with shady characters but thankfully drops the cartoons before the first twenty minutes or so.
His wife/girlfriend (I missed the first few minutes so not sure which) is pregnant and central to the their story is what sort of world will they raise their child in. It's a great question because a key element of the movie is the universality of that thought whether you are raising a family in the U.S., Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel or Pakistan. Follow me past the fold.
The movie ends a little anti-climatically depending on your outlook I suppose. Should he be off gallivanting around the world to pursue these larger questions or home with his mother-to-be? Of course he comes home in time for his baby's birth (congratulations on a healthy baby boy!!) but in a larger sense that is the point of the movie. Because of ill-prepared and ill-thought out American intervention throughout the world many communities abroad do not have adequate schools, hospitals or homes for their children and their families. The movie examines that question fairly in circumstances where our foreign policy is in direct competition with Islamic extremism and Al-Qaeda's influence. That conflict may take place between a well defined enemy such as the Taliban or perhaps through governments we support that are openly hostile towards their own people such as Saudi Arabia or Egypt. You can see the fear in one Saudi student as his eyes track back and forth from Spurlock to his minders and back again during an interview.
One of my favorite lines from the movie was from a U.S. Army Colonel in Afghanistan. We are focusing on the center of gravity, the regular people he said. And that's really what the movie is getting at, that the people we so vehemently demonized since 9-11 are people we often know nothing about. People trying to improve their lives and the lives of the families, their children in particular, in places where suicide bombing is an actual option for young young adults. That's not the norm and they want to know how to protect their kids from the influence of Al-Qaeda. What floats to the surface of Spurlock's film is the realization that much of the conflict taking place in the world today is the product of extremists on all sides perpetuating their own hatred. Extremism whether here in America, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan or Israel is something to be vigilant against. But we also see that extremism has roots that we ourselves perpetuate when we bomb as oppose to build. That becomes all too apparent when he visits schools bombed in Afghanistan. The reciprocal is true when he visits a school near the Gaza Strip recently bombed by militants. You should certainly see this film and ask the question which candidate will I vote for? One who flippantly remarks that they will obliterate other countries or one ready to create a dialogue with a world that is increasingly wary of unprovoked aggression?
Summing it up, here's a quote from Banksy's Wall and Piece,
You can win the rat race but you're still a rat
The human race is an unfair and stupid
competition. A lot of the runners don't even get
decent sneakers or clean drinking water.
Some runners are born with a massive head
start, every possible help along the way and still
the referees seem to be on their side.
It's not surprising a lot of people have given up
competing altogether and gone to sit in the
grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse.
What we need in this race is a lot more sneakers.