Rating: 
Summary: Still looking for a hero?
Review: Led up the path by Harris? Tired of Chrétien? Miss Trudeau? While there still remain plenty of places you can go for soul food, spiritual nourishment, and artistic inspiration, there are few contemporary popular media creations that will affect you the way Michael Moore's do. From his early films such as Roger and Me and Canadian Bacon, to his latest book Stupid White Men and his next film project on alleged links between Bush Señor and bin Laden, Moore's style of identifying socially relevant issues and painting poignant contrasts that shatter popular perceptions has become increasingly penetrating and compelling. Bowling for Columbine is an exploration into American values, culture and character. An association of the title can be drawn with the hunting expression "Out for Bear/blood/etc.," and while it fits, as if it were an answer to a Mensa word puzzle -a mark of Moore's wry wit- it is just the beginning, a carnival barker's invitation to come in and be entertained. This film is a collage of various perspectives on the gun issue which Moore assembled in his pursuit of some sort of answer to a situation that culminated in the murders at Columbine high school in Littleton, Colorado. The reference to bowling is not flippant, there is a link to the dictators of that fateful day and perhaps into their machinations. From an icy quote by Charleton Heston, "From my cold...dead...hands!", which Heston pronounces at an NRA meeting to express his loathing to let go his guns, to the heart wrenching story of kindergarten tragedy, Moore makes numerous stops in likely and not so likely locales, looking for clues as to why more than one person is murdered every single hour of every single day, by gun, in the USA. He travels to Littleton to talk to former classmates of the killers, and he travels to Toronto, to get a glimpse of what he sees as successful public housing and to see whether people actually do (can you believe it?), leave their doors unlocked. He even hits small town (Tim Horton's parking lot), Ontario for some down home takes on why there are fewer gun problems in Canada. We hear victims' perspectives and we witness their mission to regulate ammunition sales by petitioning a major American retailer. It's a daunting challenge, fraught with similar obstacles to those into which Moore ran when he dogged Roger Smith, former CEO of GM. Critics attack the veracity of Moore's sources and the accuracy of some of his statistics. They charge that some of the scences were set up or directed and that "things are not as they appear". I did check one criticism that an airline employee made regarding a statement in Stupid White Men. I went to an official air industry website and Moore's figure stood shining. I haven't heard Moore's responses either, and I don't anticipate them. Moore is driven and he wouldn't waste the time. He's pushing as fast and as hard as he can to help the world get a new pair of glasses. I'm looking forward to this special edition import and -I don't like to say it- would pay double the price for it. I have seen the film and
I will watch it again, but not for its cleverness or special FX or its cinematography, but because I believe that what I am seeing is minimally packaged. In an age where digital enhancement is the rage, and Television and Hollywood take viewers to ever higher limits of distraction and illusion, Michael Moore has his feet on the ground, the mic in his hand, and nothing but questions. The merits of Bowling for Columbine lie in the frankness, humility and simplicity with which the gun issue is presented. One of the strongest notions that I've been struck with in reading and listening to Moore is that he is doing this for the common good. He is trying to help people, and in particular he is trying to help people who need it, which is most of us. That's why I want to support Michael Moore. He's not a powerful man, but he has an important message, and it's gaining momentum. He doesn't pretend to be more clever than anyone, he's just passionate about the truth and he's relentless in his pursuit of it. I'm sure to some he's a nuisance, and to others he's a thorn. But to
me he's fresh air. About as fresh as you can get in these days of smog, gobal warming, and empty political rhetoric. I'm curious to see what's included in this special import edition. Michael Moore has a lot of experience and I trust he'll make it worth the money. Its message may not be as universally accessible as Beethoven's Fifth, or as simple to understand as Reduce, Re-use, Recycle, but it does raise an issue that affects all of us, and which needs to be addressed, and which is a matter of life and death.
Rating:
Summary: A voice crying in the Hollywood wilderness
Review: Warning: if you are not receptive to the unraveling of America's violence-based culture and a damning analysis of our at-all-costs pursuit of power, wealth and control, you may not want to see this film. . . . but you must see it anyway. Moore's most recent contribution to an ever-growing wake-up call for the dormant, reality-programming-obsessed, burger-scarfing, flag-waving majority sparkles from start to finish: alternately shouting and whispering "there's got to be a better way." Before viewing "Bowling" for the first of many times in the theater, I feared (and reluctantly accepted) that my family's mistrust of the current cultural and governmental status quo was a minority opinion, one to be quietly discussed among like-minded, powerless progressives like ourselves. After observing the record-breaking embrace of this film (and Moore's books, as well) I want to shout it from the housetop: America, wake-up! The majority of us truly want our children, and those of our neighbors, to be safe. By insisting that readily available handguns and ammunition somehow make us safer is to be utterly naive, and desperately wrong. It's a shame that Moore's films must be financed by Canadian production companies and foreign investors, but whatever the path to the local cineplex, I thank God he continues to pull no punches, take no prisoners, and cast the bloody truth before the eyes of all to see. (Whoops! There I go again with typical American violent-speak.) Bravo, Mr. Moore. I wait anxiously for 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and the opportunity to loan this DVD out every weekend. The message must be spread, and embraced.
Rating:
Summary: Important American Self-Study
Review: Even if you hate Michael Moore, it is important that voices like his be heard in this country. He has the capacity to step back away from the culture he comes from and lives in, and make us look at ourselves... really look at ourselves. Sometimes we are disturbed by what we see, but we must see ourselves as others see us. Excellent production.
Rating: 
Summary: Great mockumentary in tradition of Spinal Tap
Review: "The introduction of Bowling is a purported clip from an NRA documentary, announcing that the viewer is about to see a National Rifle Association film. Obviously, Bowling is not an NRA film, and so Moore makes it clear right at the beginning that Bowling is not a documentary (based on true facts), but rather a mockumentary (based on fictitious "facts"). It's a humorous movie, but the biggest joke is on the audience, which credulously accepts the "facts" in the movie as if they were true. ... "... the audience is left with a smug sense of the pro-gun bank's folly. Yet just a moment's reflection shows that there is not the slightest danger. To take possession of the gun, the depositor must give the bank thousands of dollars (an unlikely way to start a robbery). He must then produce photo identification ... "The genius of Bowling for Columbine is that the movie does not explicitly make these obvious points about the safety of the North County Bank's program. Rather, the audience is simply encouraged to laugh along with Moore's apparent mockery of the bank, without realizing that the joke is on them for seeing danger where none exists. This theme is developed throughout the film. "A montage of U.S. foreign-policy atrocities (to the tune of "What a Wonderful World") concludes with the statement that the U.S. gave $245 million to the Taliban in 2000-01. The next shot is of the World Trade Center in flames. "In fact, that money was not given to the Taliban government, but rather to U.S. and international agencies that distributed humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. ... "Moore films the over-the-counter purchase, no questions asked, of some ammunition in a Canadian store. The Canadian government has pointed out that such a transaction would be illegal, since the buyer is required to present identification. Moore did not respond to a request from the government's Canadian Firearms Centre to explain whether he staged a fake purchase, edited out the ID request, or broke the law. ..." - Dave Kopel's "Bowling Truths", National Review
Rating:
Summary: Great film whether you like it or not.
Review: Bowling For Columbine is a perfect example of a great film. People either love it or hate it, which means it make people think. People love it because it says things that other are afraid to admit. Other people hate it which means there is truth to it or else they would just dismiss it instead. These traits are true in all great films, books, or any other type of media. If you can sit down and open your mind you should watch this movie. Whether you like it or not it will be worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: The most important movie you'll see this year
Review: I cannot stress how vital this movie is for every American to see. Despite what you may think of his politics, Moore has a vital voice that must be heard before you define your opinion on the American way of life. You must see this movie under any and all conditions.
Rating:
Summary: Gun Control? Not at all!
Review: It's easy enough to watch this movie and say it's a liberal attempt to dissuade people from owning guns. In fact, most of the information in the picture was regarding American's love affair with guns. But this movie is NOT about gun control.This is a movie about fear.This is a movie about why Americans kill. From the very beginning, Moore begins to ask the question, "Why is the murder rate in America so much higher than in other countries." The answer he came up with? Because Americans live in fear. He illistarted this point in Canada by walking up to front doors and opening them, just to see if they were locked. What town in America could we find this? After seeing this movie, I realized how much in my life is governed by fear - fear of being robbed, fear for my children, fear of what people will think of me. It startled me how much of my life is based soley on fear... all the precautions I take. Even with 11,000 murders in this country every year, the odds of me getting killed by murder today is astronimical. Same with the odds of me getting robbed, or my children getting kidnapped. It happens, yes. But how many of you know someone that was murdered personally? How many people do you know that have been kidnapped? I'm sure there are a few out there, but for the average person, you don't run across that much. This is the point Moore is making in this movie. See this film. If you're a "gun nut" all the better. Moore makes the point that it's not the guns but the attitude of the people that makes the difference. See the movie, and don't be so quick to get offended. If you're a Charlton Heston fan... well, see the movie anyways, but you might not like what you see.
Rating:
Summary: Thinking is America's least favorite past time
Review: What makes this film so remarkable is the truth that it ultimately tells. Simplisticly he traces the rampant gun mania in this country back to the origins of this country being on genocide and slavery. I'd seen Moore talk about his film on Oprah at length before I saw this film, as well as the three minute cartoon that traces the US history and shows the paranoia that white people have been engendered with.
A film that focuses on gun control becomes about race and racism. The racial portrayal of people of color in the media, the media eagerly showing particular races ad nauseum commiting crimes, over and over and over, forcing white people to believe their engendered fears about other races. The audience laughed at all the appropriate parts until it became about race, then only the people of color laughed because of the bitter truth of the entire situation. White people are afraid to admit this truth, this fear, this internalized terror that seems to stalk so many to the point of getting as many guns as possible.
Charlton Heston, spokesman for the NRA, is interviewed in the film and even he admits that part of the problem, the crime is because of so many ethnicities in this country.
White people are so afraid. Afraid because America is a Me culture, unlike other countries that have socialized medicine, socialized care for the elderly, and at some level while it affords immediate gratification, we all understand that isn't right.
I don't know how to make White people less scared, to get a population of 280 million to relinquish having 250 million guns or 750 million televisions which honestly is becoming a manifestation of what we all project as "the Devil". We're slowly imploding into consumerism, a mentality of attack, attack, attack with a focus on war and destruction and killing each other. Frankly, after leaving the movie, I was ashamed that I lived in a country where our children can turn not only physically, whether purposefully as in Columbine or in Flint, accidentally, to killing. Children are killing. What else do we need as a wake up call?
I took a class man years ago taught by an Indian chief and his lesson was that every culture has armageddon mythology but that American Indian mythology includes that the winds will be out of control, that our weather patterns will no longer make sense and the next that our children will kill. I do believe that the focus of television and video games and movies teaches children HOW to kill and destroy but it is America's lack of emapthy and compassion that teaches them WHY to kill.
When so many people Moore interviewed were asked why they were arming themselves, they came back to the 2nd Amendment, to the necessity to protect themselves, their families, to the fear of the THEM coming for them whether it be government or SOMEONE, colored ultimately and I thought to myself what people of color are taught from a young age: White people are crazy, and now there's a film to support that theory.
Statistically it bears out that Black peopel have actually committed less crime in teh past 10 years than White people, 30% lowering while there has been a 600% increase in teh showing of black men as criminals on TV. Amazingly companies like Enron and World Com that financially rape millions of people of their entire lives are shown briefly before we get back to the projected terrorists and racial dangers here in America. White citizens born into fear and constantly propogandized by television about fearing are arming themselves and ironically as we learned in Columbine, killing themselves. White children go hog wild with guns, white men are more apt to commit suicide and take the family with them, white peopel wage war without the UN support and teh rest of us sit and watch.
I've been to Canada and honestly the White people there are different, maybe it's more space, maybe it's because they are a country committed to caring about people, not just thru lip service but through social and financial commitment---free medical care for EVERYONE, care for the elderly, a higher unemployment rate but a giv't committed to employing it's citizens. A mass of 30 million people who have 7 million guys and less than 200 gun shootings a year. America, 280 million has close to 12,000 gun murders a year. Even by the simplistic math of avering 10 times more in population we should only have 2000 average gun related shootings a year and yet we have 6 times THAT amount. America is hemorraging from lack of social care for EVERYONE, rich or poor, lack of parental classes, lack of marital classes, lack of integrity, lack of responsible election processes, lack of big business regulation and lack of respect for the world. Its funny how this film correlates the ideology into the political system, but like a disease this is rampant to the very concept of the 3 card monte deal of hunting for Osama to blaming Saddam Hussein for the world's teroristic problems. Bush knows how many weapons of mass destruction are in Iraq, why?> because his daddy sold them to Iraq when Hussein was helped to established power by the US to oppose Iran. We didn't care about the actions of teh regime then, it was only when oil prices went up that we became concerned about the second largest producer of oil on the planet.
Curiously enough I got an email about my initial review of thsi film that told me to "go back home" if I didn't like it here. In truth, I am Naragansett Indian, an undistrubed line from my great-grandfather, anyone not of American Indian descent is on MY land my the legal possession rights of America. I am home. But hasn't that always been the racist yell from the battle for Integration, to vote, to exist? That if anyone here in America disagrees, as supposedly allowed in a democracy, they should :go back to where THEY came from". Again that "THEM". I expect that not every person of any color shares the masses attitudes, except perhaps in this country that through first genocide of millions of Indians and then slavery of several races to build up the financial base became the mess we have today.
Rating: 
Summary: Documentary or fiction?
Review: Micheal Moore presents his views in this documentary. Through use of editing (leaving out the parts that disagree with his view) and the presentation of "skewed timeframes" (the Heston speech was made more than 5 months later) Moore presents a case that makes people see what he wants and not what is really there. To call this a documentary is a bit of a stretch and for it to win an Oscar under best documentary was very disappointing. Please when coming out of the movie, find some facts for yourself and make up your own mind. Shame on you Mr. Moore.
Rating:
Summary: A must see movie for all Americans
Review: I usually don't like documentaries; most of them are boring and long, sometimes trying so hard to prove their point of views. If I want to know about a subject I rather read. But Moore masterpiece it's different; you sit down 2 hours, you don't move and second by second it gets more and more interesting. It's real art, and at same time it looks at the root of the all problems in USA. If you are a human being that cares, has feelings, wants to know what is happening in USA and appreciates art, go and see it, I promise you will love it. But if you think you have elected a President to think for you and decide for you it's better you go and watch Joe Millionaire. Moore's work may disturb your piece of mind and make you think (God forbidden).
|
