A couple of years ago, I noticed that I was starting to get paranoid. Living in a 1st floor apartment in an iffy neighborhood of Cincinnati, not many people would be surprised by this. I became concerned as I started locking the doors and windows every night, looking over my shoulder as I walked to my car, and doing other behaviors that many would write off as simple caution. Having always been a somewhat fearless person, this was unusual for me. I knew that the crime statistics were not so high that I had any reason to rationalize this fear so I quickly worked to find the cause. In my case, it was the media. Previous to this discovery, I had been keeping track of the news meticulously, reading the local paper and the AP wire. When I stopped paying attention to the news, this paranoia subsided. The correlation may sound strange to you, but I think that Michael Moore would believe it.
Bowling for Columbine is not a movie about gun control. In fact, the issue of gun control doesn’t seem to enter Michael Moore’s mind as dissects the gun culture of the U.S. layer by layer. Consumerism, poverty and fear are all targets that Moore tackles in his 3rd full length documentary.
The movie itself is a collage. In it, Moore combines interviews, both celebrity and man on the street, footage from the news, and humorous segments showing examples of the proliferation of guns in this culture are combined to make a movie that is both stunning and enlightening. Being a big fan of Michael Moore since seeing his first film, Roger and Me, I found this movie exhilarating and eye-opening. Bowling for Columbine is by far his most outstanding and through provoking work.
Two weeks after I saw it, I still find it hard to put into words the thoughts and emotions that this film evoked in me. The movie was very powerful; one of the few that I have seen that can leave you laughing hysterically one minute and on the edge of tears the next. Everyone in the full house showing at the Drexel Theater felt the whirlwind of emotions expressed by this movie, and I believe that everyone realized that this movie honestly depicted life in the U.S. today.
Fear is the key. Moore finds that one of the major causes of violence in this country is because people are afraid. When you are afraid, you try everything to protect yourself. You are less likely to find out what is going on before having a violent response. As an example, Moore goes to Canada and interviews normal people, finding out that among other things many Canadians do not lock their doors because they are not afraid of crime. Moore goes on tirades about the media. American media keeps us watching by scaring us about every minor thing that affects our lives, from crime to the weather to killer bees. Without that fear, the U.S. would actually be safer.
I believe that this film is an extremely viable and important commentary on today. After the rash of school shootings in the late 90’s, the argument entirely focused on gun control and violence in movies and video games. Very few people stopped to look at our society as a whole. Michael Moore stepped up to take a look, not at individual scapegoats, but at American culture to try and solve the proliferation of violence.
This film reflected many of my views, which is most likely why I found it so moving. None the less, I do believe that it is an important documentary that will hopefully bring the conversation of why our society is so gun crazy to the forefront.
Filmmaker and leftist activist Michael Moore asks some serious questions as he probes the depths of America's trigger-happy gun culture in the insight...More at Family Video
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