| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
B |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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Better than expected
by On the case (movies profile)
May 17, 2008
13
of
14 people found this review helpful
This is a wonderful movie--at times funny, at times serious--that takes the form of a journey in search of Osama Bin Laden, but it is an search for answers to the problem of America's conflict with the people of the Middle East. The story is told from a very basic, human perspective. We meet lots of people with a wide variety of viewpoints on visits to Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. In many cases, these are just ordinary people expressing commonly held opinions that reveal incredible insights into the enormous lack of understanding between East and West. And please, I am not a politically naive or uneducated person. I am a professor of history at a major university with a broad knowledge of current events. Still, there is nothing like hearing actual people expressing such poignant opinions. The movie make it painfully clearly how poorly the American media covers such subjects. How many interviews have you seen on the nightly news in which ordinary Egyptians talk about anti-democractic forces in their country and what that means for their view of America? Who else has interviewed school boys in Saudia Arabia? Unlike Michael Moore's movies, there is no political agenda or bitter edge to this sweet, gentle film. Although we have seen interviews with frontline American troops in Afganistan, I have never seen anything quite so touching as these. We could use more movies like this one, movies with heart, hope, and humanity. |
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