Morgan Spurlock pulled a nifty switch with his breakthrough
film Super-Size Me, selling it as one man’s tilt against junk food windmills
while delivering a lecture on obesity that wouldn’t attract attention without
his masochistic gimmick. The same ploy works with a different topic this time, in Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?

Spurlock doesn’t
seriously believe he’ll find the world’s most sought-after terrorist. If he
had, we would know by now. What he does discover and wittily passes along is
that wherever bin Laden is, he’s better off not being found by some Middle
Easterners he violently claims to represent.

From Morocco to Palestine and Afghanistan, Spurlock meets with citizens trapped in fearful poverty between politicians. They bemoan the image of Islam being defined by suicide bombers and the killing of innocents. He doesn’t make much of the fact that his harshest reception comes from Hasidic Jews in Israel, whom the U.S. historically supports.

People and places get blurry with Spurlock’s breakneck pacing, or perhaps that is his point. National boundaries shouldn’t separate peaceful ideals. Where in the World is Osama bin Laden isn’t a Michael Moore-style rant against anyone; it is a movie summed up by Elvis Costello’s end credits song What’s So Funny (‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding?)

Spurlock's movie opens Friday. Check out the full review in Thursday's Weekend.