American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden Left Me Conflicted, But It Provided Some Long-Overdue Healing

It has been nearly a quarter of a century since the events of September 11, 2001, changed the world as we know it. As a teenager at the time of the worst terrorist attack in United States history, that infamous day was a defining moment in my life and the point where my childhood came to an abrupt end. Over the years, I’ve read countless books, watched all kinds of documentaries, and done pretty much everything I can to reconcile my memories of that day.

I recently watched the new Netflix original documentary, American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden, a three-part series about that Tuesday morning in New York, the seemingly never-ending war that followed, and the hunt for the attack’s architect. While the 2025 TV show left me incredibly conflicted (for reasons I’ll dive into soon), I have to admit it did provide some much-needed and long-overdue healing. Allow me to explain.

I Was Flooded With Emotion Throughout American Manhunt: The Hunt For Osama Bin Laden

This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone alive on September 11, 2001 (or who came of age in its aftermath), but American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden is an incredibly emotional experience. Filled with moments of fear, stories of hope, tales of exhilaration, and all kinds of national pride, the three-part docuseries, available with a Netflix subscription, throws a lot at the viewer.

There were moments that took me back to being a scared, confused, and upset 13-year-old who insisted on sleeping in his brother’s room because of the day’s events, others that left me numb during the war in Afghanistan, and then some that left me pumping my fist in the air. Regardless of the particular feeling at any given time, I was flooded with emotion from start to finish.

I Felt Like I Was Watching A CIA Recruitment Video, And I Don't Know How To Feel About That

Considering the documentary’s name, I had a feeling going in that this was going to be a multi-hour chronicle of the Central Intelligence Agency’s quest to find and kill Osama Bin Laden, and I wasn’t let down in that regard. However, while bingeing this series, I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that I was watching some kind of CIA propaganda film or recruitment video.

While the documentary doesn’t shy away from tackling the failures in the intelligence community and how they failed to prevent such an attack, nor does it attempt to sugarcoat the morally grey tactics to obtain information following 9/11, it often makes the CIA look like the biggest and brightest agency in the U.S. government at times.

Then there’s the whole Navy SEAL business in the final, and outstandingly thrilling, episode about Operation Neptune Spear. Similar to the post-9/11 war flick, Zero Dark Thirty, more than a decade ago, I felt torn between seeing this as a documentary and an entertaining thriller.

However, The Docuseries Did Provide Some Much-Needed Closure And Healing

Though I don’t know how I feel about some aspects of it, I can’t deny the fact that the docuseries did provide some much-needed closure and healing all these years later. There are countless moments throughout the series that allowed me to go through some stuff in my heart and head, but the scene showing all of the people celebrating in front of the White House the night Bin Laden was killed really got me.

I’ll never forget that night (John Cena announced the news after the WWE Extreme Rules PPV), sitting in my college apartment watching it all unfold. Experiencing that again through the documentary really gave me a moment to think back, reflect, and move on from something that impacted a large part of my life and my general worldview.

All in all, American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden, like the surprisingly great docuseries about O.J. Simpson, was an engaging, emotional, and incredibly powerful experience; one I won’t soon forget.