I’m not sure what it is about “Bush vs. Bin Laden” that disturbed me to the bone. Maybe it was the crude puppeteering and stop motion animation courtesy of Folly’s Fables, maybe it was the lack of clear soundtrack, or maybe it was the fact that, in spite of the predictable message, I rather enjoyed what Darren Way did here. It’s a stand off, and more so it’s a look at the Iraq war and how Bush continues to stand down anyone he calls “enemies” and will do whatever possible to look like the bigger man if it means bringing down innocent folks and bystanders in the process. Sure, in some way we’ve heard this all before, but there are always people creating unusual ways to personify this and “Bush vs. Bin Laden” does this through blank soulless puppets who really did give me goose bumps when glaring into the dim gritty colorless camera lens. Darren Way’s film is an interesting representation of our current situation with not just war, but war profiteering, and our insistent chest puffing at opposite forces in the name of profit and machismo. And there’s also the heavy theme that these two men are not just violent war mongers, but just tools to a bigger party behind them, hence the whole scenario set up by Way. “Bush vs. Bin Laden” is nothing new when it comes to the overtones, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a damn spooky two minutes.
