Bowling for Columbine

Rating:
Summary: Americans please wake up
Review: Excelent movie. I understand why some people feel ofended, because the things showed in the MOVIE ARE TRUE!
Everybody MUST see this film

Rating:
Summary: Great documentary!
Review: I would recommend this documentary to everybody. It's definately worth seeing. 5 stars all the way!

Rating:
Summary: Great Documentary
Review: It's sad that some people rate this movie by their opinion on gun control. The fact is that is a well-put-together documentary. Don't forget the Moore himself is a member of the NRA. His whole point is that it's pathetic that most of the guns out there serve no purpose other than killing people. Like the father of one of the kids killed at Columbine says, a semiautomatic rifle with 19 or whatever shots is not for killing deer.

Some people here have said things such as "How does 11,000 gun-related deaths per year (I won't even check the figures) suddenly become 11,000 murders? What about self-defense situations, accidents, suicides?" Gun deaths are still deaths! And lets face it, if the guns hadn't been available the "accidents" wouldn't have happened. And some of the suicides wouldn't have either.

Lets face it: Some people take the 2nd amendment to an extreme. "Oh no, there's someone on my property, now it's my duty to protect my family and shoot him six times with my semiautomatic gun." One of the benefits of civilization is that we don't need a gun under our pillows. I guess some people think it's still 1776.

Anyway, watch this movie and form your own opinion on it. I thought it was very well done.

Rating:
Summary: Moore is a filmmaking genius
Review: Well, as far as all the five star ratings go, I don't think that I can add too much to what's already been said. Moore raises more questions than he provides answers to, which was his point. Why DON'T they have the kind of homicide rate in Canada that we do, when there are seven million guns in ten million homes up there?

If you draw you own conclusions though, you can see his point. It totally IS the media. I don't mean video games, Hollywood bloodbaths, and Marilyn Manson (which Moore points out are just as frequently devoured in Canada and elsewhere). I'm talking about the NEWS. Government propaganda and how the news media puts a spin on it. I think that we as human beings can differentiate between a violent video game and real violence. It's called human intelligence. But when all we hear on the news is tragedy after tragedy after tradgedy, we come to believe our neighborhoods and towns are more dangerous than they really are. That breeds fear, which breeds violence, which breeds more fear, and the vicious cycle keeps going on and on. THIS is Moore's theme not just in the Canada section, but throughout the film.

Here's another interesting point. Michael points out that the U.S. is capitalist in the extreme. I used to be undecided on nationalized health care, but now I support it. I originally bought in to Jesse Ventura's argument against nationalized health care, which is that when you only get one provider, you get corruption. However, I've changed my mind on that. Nationalized health care works in every other 1st-world, freeworld country: the UK, Canada, Spain, France, Germany... We're essentially a society that says, "If you can bust through college and work your way into the white-collar sector and land a job with a Fortune 500 corporation, THEN you've earned the right to not have to worry about health care."

Moore suggests, and I agree, that it's that kind of Darwinist, survival-of-the-fittest mentality about our country that causes people to snap and commit carnage.

Outstanding work. Every American, heck every human, needs to view this one.

PS Though I disagree with Jesse Ventura on healthcare, he is another one of my social heroes, after reading his book "Do I Stand Alone?" Check out my review of that book.

Rating:
Summary: A thoughtful examination of hopelessness in America
Review: Here's a clue for anyone debating about buying this documentary: if you consider yourself conservative, or are a member of the NRA, Michael Moore doesn't share your opinions so you will most likely not like this film. That's not to say that you will like it if your aren't a member of the NRA or are liberal. However, it is thought provoking. In fact, it is downright bone chilling. I could go into all the facts and point out every nuance of the film but those details aren't what truly struck me as important because most of us are fully aware of what we are up against in America. If you notice anything about Bowling For Columbine it is that Moore, while not outright saying it, points out that there are many American people who are living day to day with a feeling of hopelessness. And that hopelesness transcends race and income.
Another reviewer makes mention of Moores interview with Charleton Heston: "...wait until a conservative icon is suffering from Alzheimer's, then attack him on camera..." fully ignoring the fact that Heston had the audacity to hold an NRA rally in Denver only TEN DAYS after the Columbine shooting and Moore was interviwing him to ask for an apology for perpetrating such an insensitive act. This reviewer goes on to call America "a very rich, stable culture". If anyone can think that is true after listening to some of the people who were interviewed for this film, you are either in very serious denial or you aren't paying attention.
And make no mistake, I can identify with Moore and his upbringing. I was raised in rural Pennsylvania where people hunt and I, too, know how to discharge a weapon and I do support the right to bear arms. But I don't care what side of the fence you sit on, if you can't see that there is a problem in America and that something needs to be dealt with, there are only going to be more repercussions on all of us. A survivor of the Columbine shootings says something very profound in this film: the students of Columbine High School paid a price that day. This film made me question: who's next?

Rating:
Summary: Food for thought
Review: This movie makes you think about an interesting issue: Germany, UK, Japan, Canada (and several other developed countries) all have fewer than 200 gun-related deaths every year. USA has more than 11000. Why is the rate so high in the States? Even when adjusted to account for population, the US still has about 5 times the number of gun-related deaths as compared to the other countries.

It cannot be a result of USA's violent past: Germany had a much more violent past (think Hitler). Nor can it be due to the prevalence of guns in the culture, for Canada has about as many guns per person, and yet it has very few gun-related deaths.

Moore makes some interesting points, such as, can this be due to the self-righteous attitude in this country that makes the president bomb Kosovo, Vietnam, etc.? Or is this due to the fear that is instilled in Americans by the evening news, that makes Americans trust each other less?

There are several websites devoted to debunking the mistakes in this movie, so I won't go into it. For instance, Moore makes the mistake of claiming that Canada has a higher poverty rate, which isn't true (higher unemployment rate doesn't translate into a higher poverty rate).

Overall though, the movie is a must-see.

Rating:
Summary: The other side of the coin
Review: For a critical analysis of this work, please visit www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html. Several reviewers have called Bowling for Columbine an "eye opener." Try this and open them a little wider.

Rating:
Summary: Couldnt take my eyes off of the screen
Review: this is one amazing movie. i saw an Oprah episode on it a few months back and couldnt wait until it came out on dvd. it took some convincing for my parents to let me see it (im only 13) but because of my maturity they allowed me to see it. i couldnt touch the remote to pause it, even when i had to seriously go to the bathroom. it took me 3 viewings to take in all of the information that was thrown at me but eventually i was amazed by how disgusting our country is. disregard what michael moore said at the oscars (depite the fact that he was right) and pick up this movie. take this into consideration. Number of gun deaths per year per country:Germany:381 France:255 Canada:165 UK:68 Austrailia:65 Japan:39 and the US:11127. a bit shocking, right? also, charlton heston had the nerve to vist littleton the month after the columbine shooting, and visted flint the week after the youngest school shooing of a 6 year old to hold pro gun rallies. he was speechless when moore asked him why he chose those places at those difficult times. moore left a picture of the slain girl, Kayla Rollands, at hestons door. this movie should not be missed. it had me debating with my friends of gun control at 8th grade lunch and protesting the use of toy guns on an elementary school playground. it will completely change the way you think

Rating:
Summary: one sided Mock-umentary
Review: In this horribly one sided excuse for a documentary Mr. Moore shows Americans as gun-toting murderers, The fact that this won an Oscar is a sham. Moore misrepresented facts, and spliceed together interviews to make is opponants seem cold-blooded and mean. Throught the film he preaches in such a sickiningly self-righteous mannner that i as liberal and registered Democrat(someone Moore was aiming the picture towards, i imagine) was sickened by his tone. Moore fails to take his opponants seriiously instead he mocks them, and smugly tells us his "facts". Moore mentions that Canada, the U.K. and Germany have lower gun-related deaths than we do, he grouped all deaths together, leaving out self-defense, accidents and suicides, which are not murders. The fact that Moore blamed the Work-for welfare for the tragedy in Flint, Michigan, shows how Moore disregards other factors, that have contributed to the tragidies, and instead consentrates on things that are perhaps remotely responsible. We should have sticter gun laws, yes, but a piece of biased trash like this hurts the gun-control supporters. Watching Moore exploit the tragedies in Flint and columbine is sickening, almost as sickening as his being rewarded with an oscar for this "film". Watching Moore constantly state the number of gun related deths reminde me of a dialouge in All in the family, this may not be a totally accurate script of the exchange as iam going from memory.
"Did you know that many(I forget the number) americans are killed by hand guns each year?"
" Would it make you feel any better little girl if they was pushed out of windows?"
In short, sorry this is so long by the way, do not buy this film. i lived to regret it, thought it did make a fairly good discus. By the way I voted for Nader, in the last election. So I am not a gun-toting conservative.

Rating:
Summary: Here is your Oscar winner!
Review: Anyone see this guy at the Oscars? This is a prime example why you should never give a microphone to the fat kid that sits in the corner of the room in high school. He made me proud to be a conservative. But anyway, about this home movie: I think the scenes with Charlton Heston were the best and very typical of the leftist elite; i.e. wait until a conservative icon is suffering from Alzheimer's, then attack him on camera where you can edit the "interview" to your liking, making said icon look foolish as possible. Christ, and they say conservatives are cruel. Well, at least we aren't cowardly. Moore, like a lot of isolated, privileged liberals, imagine that America is basically liberal, too. Mr. Moore, Clooney, and all the rest of them ought to come on down to South Florida. His insights into the American "gun culture" are as flawed as the film's implication that somehow American's themselves caused the terrorist bombing of 9/11. Mr. Moore is one of those American hating Americans that only a very rich, stable culture can produce. All in all, another petty swipe by yet another rich boy at the very country and culture that have made him fat and happy.