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Bowling For Columbine - 10/11/02 - R - 120m
Michael Moore
Marilyn Manson
Charlton Heston
Director: Michael Moore
JEF
Michael Moore is one of my heroes. I first learned of him after seeing
his first documentary "Roger and Me" released in 1989. I did
not see this in the theatre, but rented it from my local video store.
After seeing this movie I have always kept an eye out for Moore’s
work. Moore’s next infiltration into the public eye took place with
his TV show "TV Nation". This was a series that originally appeared
on FOX TV, but was short lived, and eventually was picked up by I believe
the "comedy channel" and played late at night. Basically the
show was buried, and soon canceled. They are available on DVD though.
Moore tells things like he sees them. Often times stating the obvious
and bringing up topics that no one wants to really look at. Topics such
as corporate crime, guns, violence, politics, corruption in the government,
pollution, racism, etc…
I’ve recently finished his book "Stupid White Men", and
would highly recommend this book to anyone who’s enjoyed his films.
Actually "enjoy" may be the wrong word here. It’s hard
for me to say that I "enjoy" Moore’s work because of his
controversial topics, and the topics then frustrate, sadden and anger
me. This movie fell in that category. I thought it was a very good film,
but the topics covered were very disturbing.
This film goes to ask the question, "why is America so violent?"
It goes on to focus mainly about guns in America. There are some moments
that will shock you, and sadden you, and hopefully make you walk out of
the theatre asking yourself "Why?" Moore uses comedy and Satyr
to get his points across. Moore will interview a person (usually an authority
figure), and because of his intelligence and wit will usually end up giving
the authoritative figure more than enough chance to insert his foot into
his own mouth. Some of his previous stuff on TV nation was much more light
hearted, and comedic. But don’t be fooled. Bowling For Columbine
I would not put in the category of a comedy. Sure there were some funny
parts do to the satirical comedy, and I enjoyed watching the authoritative
figures squirm under his line of questioning, but for the most part this
was a disturbing movie. (Slightly more disturbing was listening to the
audience’s responses… many times they were laughing at things
that were not funny. One scene in particular was a clip from a security
video that was promoting a dress code for schools, and as the narration
is going on a kid wearing baggy clothing is taking out MANY weapons that
were easily concealed. The woman in front of us was laughing at this!?
She must have thought this was some sort of circus act with clowns getting
out of a clown car… this was NOT supposed to be funny.
A large amount of the movie was spent comparing Canada to the USA in regards
to the level of violence. Some of the statistics were shocking. For example:
from 1970 to 1996 there were 37,399 deaths in Canada due to firearms (1,385
per year)... In the USA in the year 2000, there were 28,633
deaths due to firearms! He then goes on to try and find the cause of this.
He looks into what many claim as the reason for such violence, such as;
rock music, video games, movies, TV, and the media. Moore does not attempt
to make it sound like he has all the answers. But hopefully with such
bold acts like taking two young men, who are Columbine victims to visit
the K-Mart Corporate headquarters to get them to remove ALL ammunition
from their stores across the country, and with the help of the media,
SUCEEDS! Kudos, and hopefully there will be more success stories like
this one, in such a devastating area as gun violence in America.
Go see this movie. Make sure to leave time afterwards to go to a coffee
shop, or local bar to discuss this film with whomever you see it with.
And then think about what YOU can do to help end this problem in America.
Jef
PS> I’m not a fan of the comedian "Chris Rock", but
I agree with his idea to make every bullet in America cost a minimum of
$5000.
Bowling for Columbine
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