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Christian Johnston’s debut feature degrades both the memory of September 11 and the documentary form. As eight video tapes are purported to have been discovered on the Afghan/Pakistani border, the film records the attempt by a determined (as he keeps reminding us) journalist, Don Larson (George Calil), to hunt down Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. The result is a kind of Rambo-esque computer game, with each tape requiring another level of skill as "Lars" and his cameraman and faithful, if anxious, translator Wali make contacts with bounty hunters and get closer to their quarry, ultimately swapping the camera for an AK-47 and some serious ass kicking. The point-of-view cinematography, shot apparently on location and in the hallucinatory style of Michael Winterbottom’s In This World, does not make up for the pseudo–Apocalypse Now voiceover narration or the bogus manipulation of grief, anger, and fear. (95 minutes)
BY PETER KEOUGH
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