Search - Meeting Osama Bin Laden on DVD

The Look Inside

S. B. Anderson | USA | 05/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"PBS's "Meeting Osama Bin Laden" is a well-made documentary, giving insight into the life of one of the most sought-after terrorists of our time. Well researched and including interviews with people who have met or spent time with bin Laden, the film portrays bin Laden as a normal, peaceful man, who grew up as a withdrawn, quiet and shy child. What made bin Laden who he is today? This documentary attempted to aswer it.

Many books were written about Hitler, Himmler and other evil mongers in our history, but none of them managed to point at one event, or even a series of events that could be identified as the turning point for these people, a turning point leading them into committing despicable crimes. Same goes for bin Laden. Raised in a rich family, receiving good schooling, I couldn't see any triggers that would have moved Osama to become so filled with hate that he issued a religious proclamation authorizing the killing of all Americans, including women and children.

Granted, there are several situations in which one could see that Osama was shunned by even his own state and his own family, which in turn could make him bitter, but no event so big that would justify such pathological hatred. Like Hitler, after this documentary, I see bin Laden as a sociopath and a megalomaniac with incredible charisma, who was in the right place at he right time. Naturally, further research is needed, but this documentary is great for initial studies into the life and mind of the world's worst terrorist."

A good beginning, overlooks US state terror.

Preston C. Enright | Denver, CO United States | 01/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Osama bin Laden is portrayed much like earlier terrorists were portrayed, people like Geronimo, who were described as being the most savage people imaginable. No doubt, some Native Americans and some Muslims have done hideous things; but the target of their terrorism, the "civilized" people of the West, have a hard time looking at the violence their society inflicts on other people in the world. While even security analysts can point out the dynamic of "blowback" Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire there is a tendency of US citizens to prefer narratives that portray our society as superior and doing good things in the world. This DVD lends itself to that convenient self-perception. While it provides very valuable information on bin Laden, it doesn't spend much time on the suffering and bloodshed created by state terror. It was the US that created the "Afghan trap" that tore that nation to shreds and created the Mujahadeen that eventually turned on Dr. Frankenstein. We tend to forget that the Mujahadeen were once celebrated by the West and invited to the White House - see the cover photo of Terrorism: Theirs and Ours. We also tend to forget our long standing support for Israel through its ongoing occupation and settlement of Palestine, our support for dictators in Saudi Arabia America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier (Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and I), and the hundreds of thousands of deaths the US caused via its sanctions on Iraq and our destruction of its water and sewage infrastructure Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions and War. These topics are mentioned in "Meeting Osama Bin Laden," but aren't focused on in the way the violence of Muslim miltants is. There are some comments from journalist Robert Fisk, who has done excellent work in the region The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. Hopefully this DVD will encourage people to investigate further the West's violence that is the creator of Arab violence. As with any crime one should look for motivations, and we won't be able to provide security to anybody (including our victims) if we don't take a serious look at the West's generations of violence in the Middle East. To that end, I'd recommend Web of Deceit: The History of Western complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush and the award-winning DVD Our Own Private Bin Laden."