collected writings

Bowling for columbine

"Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore's new muckraking documentary is very likely the most controversial films this season. Moore, who one critic deemed a "predator in disguise," hides behind a wrinkled shirt and easygoing attitude to delve into our violence orientated culture - gun violence - and to interrogate this culture in the context of the larger society of the world. Moore is sometimes charlatan, sometimes comedian, but always the showman, and this film does not disappoint. It is witty, insightful, and sometimes poignant. Moore has sometimes been criticized for his "creative" documentary practices, but the points he makes are real.

Overwhelmingly, the film is interested in determining why gun violence permeates our culture. Moore uses fascinating interviews - from a gun waiving Charlton Heston all but claiming to be the heir to the KKK, to James Nichols (the brother of Oklahoma City co-conspirator Terry Nichols) talking about weapons grade plutonium. Moore is very much a character in his films; he starts a checking account at a bank where new members receive a free rifle, and he takes two survivors from the Columbine High School shootings to the K-Mart headquarters in Michigan (the ammunition used at Columbine was bought at a K-Mart) to see if some still-imbedded bullets can be returned for a full refund.

Sometimes, Moore gets results that he does not expect - as when K-Mart announces the removal of all ammunition from its shelves several days after the interviews, and sometimes he makes the results he wants the audience to get, as with his animation of American gun violence narrated by a bullet, or during a montage of failed U.S. foreign policies accompanied with the strains of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." Sometimes over-the-top, "Bowling for Columbine" does make you think.

I think that this film will prove to be controversial because of how relevant the gun culture is to everyone. Montana, past and present, is steeped in guns. We appear to be on the brink of war...a brink we never really seem too far away from. Gun culture affects us all, for better and for worse. The film takes its title from the pastime the Littleton, Colorado killers engaged in shortly before they began shooting and murdering other students. It is this juxtaposition of violence and entertainment that Moore spends much time in examining and interrogating.

I was a senior in high school when the Columbine shootings occurred - in the same school district in which I was enrolled. My school was shut down for a week and a half following the incident, as SWAT members opened every locker, every box, every bag to make sure our school was "safe." To say that those particular shootings affected me would be an understatement, however, I was more influenced by the media reaction to the murders than the actual deaths.

The Denver area turned into a zoo for both pro- and anti-gun groups in the weeks following, a zoo that Moore wanders through like a hardened game warden. Quick to blame were artists such as Marilyn Manson and "South Park" creator Matt Stone, whose works were supposedly the cause for not only this act of violence, but American violence in general. Moore includes interviews with both, and the realization that he arrives at regarding violence and entertainment is very thought provoking.

When Michael Moore sticks to the facts, it can be breathtakingly powerful (for example, last year's gun deaths in Germany: 38; in France: 255; Canada: 165; Britain: 68; Japan 39; and in the U.S.: 11,227), and he is just as quick to point fingers...but does not as easily suggest solutions, and there the ultimate fault in "Bowling for Columbine" lies.

Like Moore's other films, he simply raises as many problems as he can think of, and then more or less leaves the solutions for the viewers. This is at once both engaging and distancing, but the film remains entertaining and intelligent.