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Michael Moore's 'Bowling for Columbine' takes a frank look at gun control
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There
is simply one thing to say about Michael Moore’s latest film, Bowling
for Columbine: GO SEE IT NOW!
Although
the film has not yet made it into most major theaters (it is
doubtful that it ever will, considering that the holiday movie
season has arrived), it is quickly becoming a sensation on the
art-house theater circuit with the intellectual crowd buzzing about
it from coast to coast.
So
what’s the big deal? The big deal is that this film takes an
unapologetic view of the violence in America that strikes at the
heart of what it means to be an American. As this is a Michael Moore
documentary, the film often employs healthy doses of ironic humor
that both entertain audiences and punctuate the serious issues being
addressed.
The
movie’s title derives from the fact that the perpetrators of the
1999 Columbine High School massacre apparently attended an early
morning physical education class at a local bowling alley before
they headed to school to shoot and terrorize their classmates. Moore
points out the irony in this.
More
specifically, Moore tackles the issue of gun control in the United
States and how gun related violence has become so prevalent in
recent years that young children feel compelled to commit the most
heinous of crimes.
Moore
first explores the issue of availability. In America, it is almost
too easy to purchase a firearm. He graphically highlights this fact
in the opening scene of the documentary in which he visits a bank
where new account holders are given a complimentary rifle upon
opening a new checking or savings account. The absurdity of the
scene sets the stage for the exploration that follows.
Moore
talks with a broad range of people. He interviews victims that
survived the Columbine shooting itself. He tracks down
world-renowned movie star, Charleton Heston, who is the president of
the National Rifle Association, a group with a strong lobby in
national politics. Moore even pays a visit to the brother of Terry
Nichols who, along with Timothy McVeigh, was convicted in the 1995
truck bombing in Oklahoma City.
Through
these interviews, as well as through incisive questioning, Moore
uncovers what he perceives to be a dangerous trend in American
culture: Fear. Irrational fear that inevitably leads Americans of
all walks of life to violent overreaction.
Whether
it’s a kid shooting up his high school or a U.S. president
authorizing the bombing of another country, Moore sees fear as the
foundational source of America’s violent dysfunction.
To
prove his point, Moore compares America to other developed nations.
For instance, in Canada gun ownership is more prevalent than in the
United States, yet gun crime is minimal. Japan produces a majority
of the world’s violent video games and violence in entertainment
is quite common, yet Japan’s murder rate is dwarfed by the annual
kill-fest in the United States.
For
Moore, it is an engrained fear of other people that makes America
such a violent place. He points to the evening news, where the
principle of “if it bleeds it leads” makes the evening newscast
a nightly excursion into the morbid. He points to the fact that
Americans lock their doors and spend inordinate amounts of money on
personal home security. And, of course, he points to the American
love affair with the gun.
In
all, this film is one of the best to debut this year, bar none.
There are graphic scenes in it; however, they are real scenes of
real events that punctuate the violence that seems to have overtaken
American society.
If
there is one film to see this year, Bowling for Columbine is
it.
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