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Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? | 2008 | PG-13 | - 2.4.5

Morgan Spurlock traverses the Middle East trying to find the trail to Osama bin Laden. In the process he meets and talks to citizens of Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel and the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia. Directed by Spurlock. [1:33]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - An animated Statue of Liberty wearing stockings dances seductively while a man watches with obvious interest.
 A man talks about a tree nut that when eaten can help a man's potency (we see several men eating the nuts).
 A man and a woman are shown in a tub of water (bare shoulders and arms are visible) after the woman has delivered their baby.
 A woman tells a man that she is pregnant and holds up several home pregnancy tests as proof. We hear that a woman's water broke.
 A man lies in bed covered by sheets (his bare shoulders and upper chest are exposed).

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - Many men surround a man and become aggressive telling him to leave an Israeli area, they yell at him, and one man shoves him and then shoves a police officer.
 Soldiers move a man out of a village in a hurry and we hear radio chatter about a possible ambush by Taliban members.
 A man stands over a drain in a plaza in Saudi Arabia and tells us that this is where people are beheaded every morning, while kids play soccer in the afternoon. We hear about suicide bombings, we see the rubble after one such attack and see people splattered with blood (no carnage is shown).
 We see tanks patrolling the Gaza Strip and we hear a loud explosion. We see the aftermath of a school building having been struck by a rocket (no children were injured).
 We see several cities with armed men (and one scene shows a boy holding a handgun) patrolling streets. We see newsreel-type footage of violence during elections in Egypt, where people are beaten by police. Police pull people out of a settlement and we see one man being pulled through a window.
 An animated sequence shows acts of torture being perpetrated on people by the police of the former Shah of Iran (nothing graphic is shown but a voiceover makes a reference to shoving a broken bottle in someone's anus). In an animated video game-like sequence we see two men fighting, one is kicked to the ground, and one is thrown into a tree. We see simulated severed limbs with blood on them scattered around a room during a survival training session.
 A man sprays something in the face of another man, who moans and rubs his eyes. A man receives many injections before traveling abroad (we see a drop of blood on his arm after one) and the doctor tells the man of the potential side effects from the yellow fever shot and that it could actually kill him.
 During a survival training course we see a man lying on the ground with what looks like blood on his head, blood on the wall behind him and the ground beneath him (it's a simulation). During a kidnapping simulation, men with guns force other men to their knees and then to the ground at gunpoint while yelling at them.
 During training a man holds a gun to another man's head. A man takes target practice with guns and then a rocket launcher.
 A bomb squad investigates a "suspicious object" in a crowded plaza; a robot shoots it open (nothing happens).
 A man wears a bulletproof vest and writes his blood type on his clothing before one mission. We see a shantytown and how people are living in squalor and extreme poverty.
 Egyptian people talk about the U.S. wanting to occupy Egypt. People talk about the spread of terrorist attacks and terrorist cells. A man worries about the kind of world his child is coming into. A man talks about all of the dangers in the world including terrorism, cults, pedophilia, drugs, as well as natural disasters. People talk about a climate of fear. We hear that a woman's water broke.
 A man in a market cleans an animal pelt with a knife (no blood).

LANGUAGE 5 - 4 F-words, 3 scatological terms, 1 anatomical term, 6 mild obscenities, 1 religious exclamation.

SUBSTANCE USE - An animated scene shows people holding alcoholic beverages in a bar. Men are shown smoking hookah pipes and cigarettes in many scenes throughout the movie.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Osama bin Laden, Taliban, terrorism, land battles, freedom, education, poverty, extremism, exploitation, lack of freedom, democracy, anti-American sentiment, Israeli-Palestine issues, mercy, nationalism, compassion, tribal mentality, hope, thought police, censorship, religion, religion and politics.

MESSAGE - All people want the same things for their families, such as education for their children and peace, regardless of their religion or ethnicity.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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