Bowling for Columbine

Rating:
Summary: A DANGEROUS DOC
Review: In Brief

Is America a nation of gun nuts or are they just nuts? This is the question that the press release for Bowling for Columbine asks us and Michael Moore's new film goes some way in exploring. Taking the Columbine High School shootings as its focal point, this documentary looks at the aftershock this massacre has had, paralleling it with the gun culture and increasing violence seen both within the States at a domestic level & the murderous events perpetrated by said country on a world level.

Review

Director, writer, celebrity, political activist, comedian; this is Michael Moore's first documentary film in 13 years since his debut Roger & Me, and it saw its premiere this Sunday as part of the Regus London Film Festival.
Since making his first film his political stunt style has developed through his television shows, The Awful Truth & TV Nation and his status as both celebrity and man of the people has been perpetuated through his written work: the most notable being his recent book Stupid White Men, which has been on the New York Times best seller list for over nine weeks! This was despite his publishers best efforts to make sure it never saw a bookshelf let alone made money and is a testament to the strength of his work that it is now in its 19th printing.

So while Moore is obviously a draw, especially to a disillusioned youth or general public, why does Bowling work so well? The answer is simple, it is honest film making - and his greatest tool is the truth which can be delivered in laugh out loud "its so scary you have to laugh" moments, which are equally surrounded by poignant seriously sad & intense segments that depict the awful state of affairs the States has found itself in.

From satirising American history through a farcical cartoon, that ironically makes sense, to looking at the FBI checklist of what is a potential teenage time bomb: Are you a depressed teenager? Do you wear black, feel alienated, use inappropriate humour, abuse drugs or alcohol? Any of that fit - maybe you could make some headlines next! His humour is pure genius, and this is an entertaining film that doesn't feel dry and wont leave you looking at your watch!

This however is not a film that will purely get a ripple of laughter and fill some seats in a cinema, it forces its audience to question itself. Indeed, it works well outside of the States as it makes you ask where our own country is going and how long will it be before we reach the level of public disturbance that is witnessed in the USA here. In 1871, the KKK was made illegal, a few months later a new organisation was formed calling itself the National Rifle Association (NRA), its purpose was to promote gun ownership to whites only. Until the 1950's the gun was used to keep so-called free blacks in their place, now it's the right of every citizen to carry arms. America was once an open prairie of wild expanse, an individual needed then to protect themselves, some say that it is still wild but now a different sort of jungle. Times change and Bowling for Columbine addresses the current 'status quo' well, but it is up to the public address what is to be done today.

The Verdict

Creating a nice narrative progression that works well in a cinema - this film does seem to have an entertaining beginning middle and even a climax. But being based in reality there is no end that can be said without being done and one man cannot do that alone. It dares to ask questions that others have yet to put to a mainstream audience but in comparison to his written work, you feel that Moore is pulling his punches in order to make this product just that little bit more commercially appealing. Nevertheless this is another fantastic film that should not be missed from the auteur that excels in exposing American absurdity.

Rating:
Summary: Part Hollywood, Part PBS
Review: Moore has himself a quality film and well worth your time to watch it (once)if for no other reason than to challenge your stance and strengthen them concerning violence in America, but I found two things disconcerting about the film: first was the stats are manipulated. If one looks up the stats on violence and death in America, he would see that America's stats are accurate in the film but they are comparable per capita to other countries. Moore doesn't mention this because it would weaken his already wobbly solution to violence. And secondly, Moore shows America as a violent watching, blood-thirsty culture that loves their shoot-em-up movies but Moore has his moments of grotesque and actual footage clips that are used to make his point and to get more viewers thus to make more money.
Moore presents us with a more than appropriate subject, and maybe that is part of the solution--just getting it out in the open, but Moore doesn't have any bright ideas about the direction we should take. And Moore, embarrassing Heston doesn't get NRA people to listen to you and your view, it only makes them hug their already extreme position that much tighter. I am left with a feeling that Moore poked fun at a serious problem rather than contributing to its cessation. But at least we're talking about it.

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda
Review: This film is complete liberal Propaganda. Moore twists the true, and edits the film to only show you the dark side of gun ownership in America. He never mentions the thousands of lives saved each year by armed cictizens. And when he gives the number of deaths related to firearms, he fails to tell you that more than 50% of them are suicides, not accidental shootings of children and murderous rages by sadistic youth. He only focuses on the problem and not the solution. This film protrays The NRA and the most evil orginization in the country and trys to make a connection to them with ever death by gun in the movie. The movie industy has lost all credibility in my mind, after giving moore documetory awards for a propganda film.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be afraid to THINK
Review: I expected this movie to be heavy in opinion but with a bit of Moore's usual fun. I was greatly impressed that this movie did not spoon-feed answers. It masterfully raised the serious questions about why the gun-violence in America is so great when in other nations, even those with lots of guns, it isn't.

I find people that are criticizing this movie largely seem to fall into the "America ia great" and if you point out our problems you must be anti-American. I strongly disagree with this point and believe if we want to remain great, we need to ask ourselves the tough questions. And this movie certainly does that.

I've found in other countries I've lived, it is common on nightly shows and media to look at national issues, discuss them intelligently with voices from ALL sides of the issue, and look at how other nations deal with the problem. Sadly, that type of debate is very difficult to find in this country. The media either keeps everything watered-down and middle-of-the-road, frequently only allows "paid lobbyists" to talk or you have a bunch of people screaming trying to "score points".

Buy this movie, share it with your friends and family, and talk about how we can fix this problem that is killing our children and our future.

Rating:
Summary: A Troubling Documentary
Review: When Michael Moore asks Charlton Heston near the end of this documentary why there are so many more killings in the U. S. than practically anywhere else on earth, he responds at first by saying we have always been a nation of blood, a nation of violence. He then opines that it's because we are a nation of "diverse ethnicity." He had previously said in the interview that he keeps a loaded gun in his gated estate because of the Second Amendment and if it was good enough for the "white" men who founded this country, it's good enough for him. I believe that qualifies as undiluted racism. Moore interviews Heston and several others, some for and others against the easy access in this country to guns and ammunition. What I found amazing about this movie is that so many people spoke so openly when they knew they were being filmed. On the other hand, that's no more amazing than what ordinary Americans reveal about themselves on late night TV shows.

Moore asks other hard questions--for example, about the welfare-to-work program that forces a single mother to travel 80 miles one way each day to work two minimum wage jobs that don't provide her with enough income to pay her rent. This is the same mom whose six-year-old son finds his uncle's gun, takes the gun to school in Flint, Michigan and shoots another six-year-old. Moore also takes on corporate greed, the news media's obsession with violent crimes as well as the zigzag approach the United States government has taken to various dictators over the years.

I do not know if seeing this movie will make people change their minds about guns and killing in this country or not. I do know that this documentary is very troubling.

Rating:
Summary: Great for Libertarians
Review: This is a great DVD for Libertarians (including myself). Although there is a little too much Bush-bashing (some is warranted), most of the items are dead-on and help the viewer to consider things from a new perspective. It does not come off as a I-got-the-answers presentation, but more as what-are-we-all-afraid-of which triggers independent thinking. Worthwhile viewing for thinking audiences.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie that really forces one to rethink US ideals
Review: Ha Ha Ha. I loved this movie and am a proud American who is in the Armed Forces serving overseas. With that being said....the guy from Alaska sounds like he needs to up his anti-psyco medication. FOR REAL!!

Rating:
Summary: MIKEY MORON IS THE BIGGEST LIAR EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Review: Mikey Moron says President (HERO) Bush is a bad president. GUESS WHAT MIKEY? GO BACK TO EATING FOOD ALL DAY LONG Y0U FAT IDIOT. Bin laden is your best friend stupid MORON. AL (ARAB TRAITER) FRANKLIN and all the LIARS LIBERALS are hoping that the terrorists win against PRESIDENT BUSH. GUESS WHAT? Why dont you go live with SADDAM in jail so you can be lazy and take drugs all day IDIOTS. GET OUT OF AMERICA WE DONT WANT YOU HERE. This movie is a bunch of LIES ABOUT PRESIDENT BUSH beacuse he is a CHRISTIAN and the LIBERAL TRAITERS ARE STUPID ATETISTS. GET OUT OF AMERICA STUPIDS! ZERO STARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: meandering but thought-provoking look at gun violence in US
Review: This is a fascinating and disturbing look at gun violence in the United States, using the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, as a starting point. There are places where Moore's biases come through loud & clear, but at most points in the film, Moore creates questions rather than prescribes cures. I was expecting a film-length pitch for gun control, but the film delivered something very different. I'm not sure what Moore's thesis is -- but the question posed is why does the United States have such horrific statistics on shooting homicides? The statistics are alarming -- our statistics are orders of magnitude greater than those of other developed countries. According to the film, Canada, England, & Germany have virtually no gun homicides, while the US has over 11000 a year (and in Canada, about 70% of homes have a gun). Moore doesn't give pat answers -- violence on TV, our propensity towward military intervention abroad, heightened coverage of violence in news media that creates a culture of fear, exposure to guns at a young age, the proximity of missile-producing Lockheed Martin to Columbine, poverty -- who knows why American society is so violent?? Apparently, the Columbine shooters were enrolled in a Bowling phys ed class & went bowling on the morning of the shootings -- Moore sarcastically questions why bowling isn't blamed as a cause of the shootings. Moore even explores a situation in which a six-year old boy shot & killed a classmate at his elementary school in Michigan, leading him to interview bus passengers on the bus ridden by the young shooter's mother, leading in turn to a pointed criticism of Michigan's welfare to work program.

Much about this film is disturbing -- footage of the shootings at Columbine, footage of executions in US-sanctioned military and police actions throughout history made me squirm. And I was very uncomfortable during Moore's confrontations with K-Mart (who sold the ammunication used at Columbine), Charlton Heston (for his visit to Denver with the NRA shortly after the Columbine shootings), and Dick Clark (whom moore attempted to interview because the six-year-old shooter's mother was employed at a Dick Clark's Bandstand restaurant under Michigan's welfare-to-work program -- seems to stray a little off point). Moore comes off looking slightly annoying, but the film is a real eye-opener and well worth seeing, regardless of your position on Moore, the Second Amendment, and gun ownership.

Rating:
Summary: A Version of Violence
Review: Michael Moore is indeed a controversial character these days. Despite your individual political bent, Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," is worth viewing, but when you go to feast on the anti-violence in America message, just be careful how much you swallow.

In this documentary Moore couches his message in a "just under the surface" manipulative way. I watched his first flick, "Roger and Me," and didn't walk away from it feeling that the message had been forcefully presented like in "Bowling for Columbine." Though it has no bearing on the worthiness of this product, I would say I am in agreement with the message Moore is trying to convey here...America has proved itself a somewhat unhealthy violent society...and something needs to be done about our fascination and seemingly personal constitution claim to the holy grail of gun ownership. However where I'm lost with Moore is the way he presents the message, heavy-handed and served up.

Here's what I mean. Moore makes it a point to say that Columbine happened at the same time America was dropping the single-most amount of bombs on Kosovo. He does this with footage of a KC-135...a non-bomb dropping refueler that is also utilized at times to carry humanitarian supplies. I appreciate his saying that our willingness to wage war as a nation may translate in cases to personal violence, however the connection is tenuous at best. War can be a regrettably necessary act. Not many people would argue against the necessity of war in 1941 or in 1945. Mahatmas Ghandi and India waged war (albeit non-violent) against Great Britain to end that occupation. So, I feel Moore has mixed his messages of anti-war with anti-cultural violence and gun control.

Another heavy-handed approach is Moore's harassment of Charlton Heston, the figure-head of the NRA, who Moore quixotically enough is still a card-carrying member. I disagree with the amount of power the NRA holds and agree with Moore that they are foolishly advocating for laws and rules that beget ease to obtain guns, but Moore's approach leaves even the more cool-headed liberals feeling somewhat sorry for Heston. I don't think that was Moore's intent, but he has a history for confronting people in influential positions and making them look foolish.

The scenes of Columbine are indeed hard to watch. It's funny that there is a thought through approach in directing and editing this film, that uses graphic images of violence and gun-killings to portray an anti-violent and anti-gun message. England had a school shooting in the late 90's and enacted restrictive gun laws quickly and efficiently. America could not even vote in a pro-gun control president in 2000 in the wake of repeated cases of school violence.

Moore's message needs to be heard. There's a problem and something needs to be done about it. But I question, his somewhat manipulated approach to conveying that message. By all means, watch "Bowling for Columbine," but be wary of what you swallow as truth.