I was bowled over (Bowling for Columbine (DVD))

Member Name: cswann

Product:	Bowling for Columbine (DVD)
Date:	22/05/03 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hard-hitting look at the US gun-toting psyche

Disadvantages: May not withstand repeated viewings

It’s a long time since I’ve seen a full-length documentary feature shown at my local multiplex cinema – these tend to be restricted to the art-house cinema in the city. I guess it's not usually exactly what cinema-goers are after.

Well, Bowling for Columbine breaks the mould. You CAN get a successful movie / video / DVD out a documentary.

I was already familiar with Michael Moore through his TV programme, where he takes up various anti-corporate causes, and his book “Stupid white men”. Then of course there was his infamous appearance at the Oscars, where he may have misjudged his audience when he made his anti-War comments – he certainly seemed surprised at the generally unwelcoming response, but my guess is he felt so strongly he would have said it all anyway. That’s the feeling you get if you watch this movie too – he must have made it to try to get across his views and make a point, rather than to gain popularity, or even to win an Oscar.
And in “Bowling For Columbine” he makes his point very well.

The Columbine High School massacre of 1999 is pivotal to this movie – two pupils with guns which they had bought quite legally, murdered 12 students and 2 teachers at their high school in Littleton, Colorado.
Though it provoked much discussion on gun laws, no changes resulted, and there are still 11,000 gun related deaths each year in the USA. Moore has all the statistics – and it compares abysmally with Europe, and Canada. The movie brilliantly shows up the hypocrisy of the US’s gun laws and culture in general. Can be funny at times, can be irreverent, can be overtly tubthumping, but it’ll definitely get you thinking. I particularly like d the comparisons drawn with Canada – where the norm is for people not to lock their doors, to trust their neighbours, and although 1 in 3 households own a gun there are nowhere near as many gun-rela
ted killings as there are in the States, just over the border.

The movie starts with the well-chosen track “Take the Skinheads bowling” from Camper Van Beethoven. A great off-beat start.
Perhaps most memorably of all, Moore interviews Charlton Heston, who as vice-president of the National Rifle Association, seems to embody the kind of blinkered stupidity Moore is a master at attacking – he was intent on attending a gun-related event held in Columbine itself, which as Moore reasonably points out, is a very insensitive thing to do – if not downright insulting to the families of those killed in the High School there. I find it ironic that Heston may well turn out to be as well remembered for his role in this film (where he comes across as unthinking, selfish, cowardly, vain – you name it) to many young people – not for any real acting – his previous glories in the movies can count for very little to the young people watching now. And the sad thing he’s not set up - he does it all to himself just by being himself. If you’re a Heston fan you’re best not watching this movie.

Moore himself is a paid-up member of the National Rifle Association – which is why he can so easily gain the trust of Heston – but he clearly believes that it should not be so easy to get hold of guns and ammunition.
Another excellent sequence involves a kind of sit-in at a WalMart store, where gun ammo can apparently be bought with ease.

Marilyn Manson is also interviewed – one of the stars ‘blamed’ for this particular violent crime, as the perpetrators liked his music. I think most people would scorn this idea anyway nowadays, but even those who might not should be impressed by Manson’s intelligence and his insight. Not by his dirty trousers, though!

Moore makes other points – such as drawing attention to the fact that on the day of the massacre the bombi
ng of the former Yugoslavia by the US was the heaviest it had ever been – this must have been a coincidence, but one thing is for sure - it truly shows up the hypocrisy (Clinton saying there is a need for aggression one minute; saying he abhors violence the next). Moore’s argument that America is a nation that can only ever seem to reach for its gun, collectively and individually, can only ring true.
The movie includes CCTV footage from inside the school on the day of the shootings – which has a great impact – yet it manages to avoid being sensational.

Moore hasn’t only produced documentary TV and films – he also directed a satirical comedy, called Canadian Bacon, in 1995.
To recap, then, unusually for a successful feature film, this is a documentary – don’t expect a great storyline, or great acting from Bowling for Columbine. Neither is it a comedy or a spoof. But you will find it funny (at times) informative, and, most definitely, thought-provoking.

Cert 15

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