Documentary Showdown: "Where in the World is Osama bin Laden" versus "Slacker Uprising"

Would you be more interested in finding Osama bin Laden or a journey across the country to change minds? I thought finding bin Laden would be easily more interesting. Sometimes things aren't quite as we expect.

I recently watched both Where in the World is Osama bin Laden, by Morgan Spurlock, the mastermind behind Super Size Me, which I thought was amazing. I had been waiting for the film to come out and was excited to see what Spurlock was going to do.

I felt the same way about Michael Moore's Slacker Uprising. I enjoyed all his other movies and was looking forward to this one even though the premise (follow Moore around prior to the 2004 election) seemed a little uninteresting.

I watched both these within about a week of each other and found similarities and differences that significantly influenced my views of these films. My excitement about Where in the World is Osama bin Laden started fading almost immediately as the movie began. The introduction and transitions between scenes were animated and accompanied by silly music. This seemed to make light of what was a very serious subject. In addition to that, the film seemed to stray from the main topic (finding bin Laden) into the land of Spurlock's private life. We learned all about Spurlock's wife's pregnancy and the toll it took being separated from each other while Morgan made the movie. And at the end of the film, when Spurlock is finally close to achieving his goal, he aborts his mission with some philosophizing about how it's important for all of us to learn about each other and talk to each other (or something along those lines). The parts of the film that focused on the main topic expressed by the title were interesting and engaging, but it felt like the parts involving Spurlock's family intruded on the main story.

On the other hand, Slacker Uprising surprised in another way altogether. What promised to be a dull trip across the country watching Moore rant in his crazy fashion turned out to be enjoyable. It informed and entertained (if there's one thing Moore is to everyone, it's funny) while focusing on the life of the filmmaker.

What I found interesting after seeing both of these films and having such different reactions to them was how similar they were. Both of the films spent a good amount of time shining the spotlight on the life of the filmmaker. But I really enjoyed one of them and felt like the other one shortchanged me. I couldn't help but wonder why. I spent some time thinking about how the films were similar and different and I finally figured it out. While they both spent a good amount of time focused on the filmmaker, it wasn't in the same way. Where in the World is Osama bin Laden really went into Spurlock's family life and his wife's feelings. It felt like you were spying on people's personal lives in an inappropriate way. Slacker Uprising dealt with Moore's professional life - his tour and its ups and downs. We didn't see his family or hear about how difficult it was being away from them while on tour. It wasn't intrusive in the same way. Moore didn't seem to presume that the audience was fascinated with his personal life as it seemed that Spurlock did.

I think it's important that filmmakers stick to their topics and keep the documentation of their personal lives to a minimum. Slacker Uprising was by far the superior movie.