Rating- * * * * (4/5)
I don’t get to see very many documentaries, being that I don’t live in a big art-house kind of city, but the ones that I have seen usually impress me. The documentary is a totally different animal than the feature film. In a feature, you get to think of a situation, create it, shoot it, and tell it any way you want to. But in a documentary, you are only given a limited amount of material from which you can edit and piece together some kind of coherent story, or at least a statement. For a man who clearly doesn’t have access to all the material he needs, Michael Moore does extremely well for himself. In case you’re not aware of him, Michael Moore has become one of the key figures in the Libertarian political movement in America over the past decade, strolling into corporate office buildings in his flannel shirt and baseball cap and demanding answers from corporate America, from the Hollywood, and from the government about why we have some of the problems we do if we live in the greatest country in the world. In Bowling for Columbine, Moore tries to examine what could be the cause in our culture for such a terrible tragedy such as Columbine to occur and why Americans kill each other at such a higher rate than any other people in the world. What I expected at this point was for Moore to begin preaching to us how unnecessary guns are and how if we just got rid of all our guns, none of these problems would ever happen. But Moore explained that in Canada, they have roughly the same amount of guns per household and yet an astronomically lower gun death rate and murder rate in general. It is not our violent past, explains Moore, because Germany has a low murder rate and they carry the most violent past in the world. Through a series of montages, interviews, and hilarious clips, Moore shows us that America is a nation that has always been, from its founding to now, based on and run by fear. Fear is the easiest and safest way to control a population; it is a tactic that has been used by ever successful regime in the history of the world and America is no different. From the government to the advertising companies to the media, every powerful institution in America gains its power by creating and harnessing fear in the citizens, consumers, and viewers of America. Moore makes some very interesting points in this film and his use of editing and music really helps to drive the point home. The film is also very funny at times, as Moore interviews several people that may not have a clue what they are actually talking about. There are also some very touching moments like when Moore shows up with two of the victims of the Columbine shootings at the K-Mart headquarters to ask K-Mart to stop selling handgun ammunition. If you know me, you know that politically, I’m pretty conservative. Mind you, I’m no Trent Lott but I still line up with the right on most issues and I have sort of a natural dislike for anyone who spends too much time criticizing America without suggesting any plausible solution for her problems. Moore does a really fantastic job of making his point that no matter what your views on gun control on, it’s not the guns in America that are killing people, but the fear that drives Americans to pull the trigger. There are a few areas where Moore rambles a bit and seems to get sidetracked on other issues, but as a whole this is a film with a message. Moore passionately believes in his cause; he is not at all some overbearing political pundit but rather a big hearted man who seems almost desperate to save his fellow Americans. Bowling for Columbine provides some new insight into American culture as well as some reasons for why we have some of the problems we do. I recommend it to those who feel called to help this country and those who care to better understand why bad things happen in America.