Bowling for Columbine
Michael Moore’s “Bowling For Columbine” is a powerful indictment of American insanity. It begins as a summation of gun violence in the United States, and how we as a nation seem to have become so used to all the death that surrounds us. Gradually, but assuredly, the film opens up, and reveals an even darker heart, as Moore tries to uncover deeper truths about our society in a way only this Midwestern muckraker can.
Michael Moore has made a name for himself with his investigations into Flint, Michigan’s decimation due to General Motor’s mismanagement in 1989’s “Roger And Me,” and corporate lunacy in 1997’s “The Big One.” Moore has also hosted two television shows (“TV Nation” and “The Awful Truth”), and written several books. Taking the role of the everyday citizen who cannot believe his eyes at all the corruption and injustice going on in this great land, Moore has an enormous hate him or love him following. I’m in the latter category, finding his work to be at best entertaining, at worst calculating. But in the end, Moore is the guy taking on the important issues that most individuals wouldn‘t go near.
“Bowling For Columbine” is no different. It’s incendiary, one-sided, and often flagrantly manipulative, but Moore’s targets are ones that have been untouched cinematically for too long. While Oliver Stone consistently trips over himself trying to inject social commentary into his films, Moore unabashedly runs full on into the eye of the political hurricane, sometimes succeeding at making a point, other times embarrassing himself. Either way, Moore can be continually counted on to entertain, infuriate, and most importantly, enlighten.
“Columbine” opens as an examination of the events that occurred in Littleton, Colorado, when teenagers shot up their school in April 1999. The media and the town blamed rock music and Hollywood, but Moore tries to open the discussion wider, interviewing Marilyn Manson, questioning why Charlton Heston and the NRA (which Moore is a member of) showed up for a gun rally a mere two weeks after the tragedy, and even talking to friends of the teenagers, who are clueless to why this horrible event occurred (the boys even attended their morning bowling class before the massacre). It is a fascinating journey into the soul of this matter that few news outlets bothered to find. This gun control focus eventually wears away in the film’s second half, as Moore moves on from simpler targets to find the more elusive trickle down effects gun ownership has on our society.
While some of the pieces are comedic (Moore visits a bank that gives free guns for new accounts), horrific (there is footage from the Columbine massacre included), fruitless (Moore tries to understand why “all American” Dick Clark would own a restaurant that aligns itself with a botched welfare system in Michigan), predictable (Moore provides a theory that suggests American chaos is due to the increase of media hysteria) eye-opening (the statistics for yearly deaths by guns run as low as 68 in some parts of the globe, while America has over 11,000), and just plain sad (Moore’s interview with NRA spokesman Charlton Heston reveals that the actor blames race mixing for the country’s woes), yet they are always compelling. You can dismiss it as blatantly liberal rhetoric (and watch as I fall asleep in front of you), or you can appreciate Moore for taking a bold step in trying to comprehend why Americans are blowing each other away with such alarmingly regularity.
“Bowling For Columbine” easily vaults to the top of Moore’s work, and as his targets get bigger, and his aim sharper, I hope he will continue trying to turn the world on its head. No other American filmmaker seems to be trying as hard to do so.
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