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Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," a documentary that is both hilarious and sorrowful, is like a two-hour version of that anecdote. We live in a nation of millions of handguns, but that isn't really what bothers Moore. What bothers him is that we so frequently shoot them at one another. Canada has a similar ratio of guns to citizens, but a 10th of the shooting deaths. What makes us kill so many times more fellow citizens than is the case in other developed nations? Moore, the jolly populist rabble-rouser, explains that he's a former sharpshooting instructor and a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association. No doubt this is true, but Moore has moved on from his early fondness for guns. In "Bowling for Columbine," however, he is not so sure of the answers as in the popular "Roger & Me," a film in which he knew who the bad guys were, and why. Here he asks questions he can't answer, such as why we as a nation seem so afraid, so in need of the reassurance of guns. Noting that we treasure urban legends designed to make us fearful of strangers, Moore notices how TV news focuses on local violence ("If it bleeds, it leads") and says that while the murder rate is down 20 percent in America, TV coverage of violent crime is up 600 percent. Despite paranoia that has all but sidetracked the childhood custom of trick or treat, Moore points out that in fact no razor blades have ever been found in Halloween apples.

Moore's thoughtfulness doesn't inhibit the sensational set-pieces he devises to illustrate his concern. He returns several times to Columbine High School, at one point showing horrifying security-camera footage of the massacre. And Columbine inspires one of the great confrontations in a career devoted to radical grandstanding. Moore introduces us to two of the students wounded at Columbine, both still with bullets in their bodies. He explains that all of the Columbine bullets were freely sold to the teenage killers by Kmart, at 17 cents apiece. And then he takes the two victims to Kmart headquarters to return the bullets for a refund.

This is brilliant theater and would seem to be unanswerable for the hapless Kmart public relations spokespeople, who fidget and evade in front of Moore's merciless camera. But then, on Moore's third visit to headquarters, he is told that Kmart will agree to completely phase out the sale of ammunition. "We've won," says Moore, not believing it. "This has never happened before." For once, he's at a loss for words.

The movie is a mosaic of Moore confrontations and supplementary footage. One moment that cuts to the core is from a standup routine by Chris Rock , who suggests that our problem could be solved by simply increasing the price of bullets--taxing them like cigarettes. Instead of 17 cents apiece, why not $5,000? "At that price," he speculates, "you'd have a lot fewer innocent bystanders being shot." Moore buys a Map to the Stars' Homes to find where Charlton Heston lives, rings the bell on his gate, and is invited back for an interview. But Heston clearly knows nothing of Moore's track record, and his answers to Moore's questions are borderline pathetic. Heston recently announced he has symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease, but there is no indication in this footage that he is senile; it's simply that he cannot explain why he, as a man living behind a gate in a protected neighborhood, with security patrols, who has never felt himself threatened, needs a loaded gun in the house. Heston is equally unhelpful when asked if he thinks it was a good idea for him to speak at an NRA rally in Denver 10 days after Columbine. He seems to think it was all a matter of scheduling.

"Bowling for Columbine" thinks we have way too many guns, don't need them, and are shooting each other at an unreasonable rate. Moore cannot single out a villain to blame for this fact, because it seems to emerge from a national desire to be armed. ("If you're not armed, you're not responsible," a member of the Michigan militia tells him.) At one point, he visits a bank that is giving away guns to people who open new accounts. He asks a banker if it isn't a little dangerous to have all these guns in a bank. Not at all. The bank, Moore learns, is a licensed gun dealership.

Note: The movie is rated R, so that the Columbine killers would have been protected from the "violent images," mostly of themselves. The MPAA continues its policy of banning teenagers from those films they most need to see. What utopian world do the flywheels of the ratings board think they are protecting?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Rated R For Some Violent Images and Language

120 minutes

Written and directed by

Michael Moore

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Bowling for Columbine (United States, 2002)

While there will always be a debate about the authenticity of Michael Moore's documentary techniques, there's no arguing that Bowling for Columbine succeeds equally well as a provocative essay on gun violence in America and an opportunity for the writer/director to engage in some heavy self-promotion. Whether you like him or hate him, it's impossible to deny Moore's charisma and persuasiveness as a showman. He takes a thesis and runs with it, and, while some of his conclusions may be a little farfetched, his probing often pays unexpected dividends. Bowling for Columbine is Moore's most effective film to-date - a vastly more compelling piece of pseudo-documentary movie-making than either the overrated Roger and Me or the ego-inflating The Big One .

Viewers attending a Moore film should be aware that the director has a history of "faking" scenes. So, unlike in a more traditional documentary, not everything that appears on screen can be believed. Moore is skillful enough that we don't recognize when we're being fooled. It took a Film Comment expose by Harlan Jacobson to unearth all of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans in Roger and Me . So, when Moore ambushes Charlton Heston during an interview, there's no guarantee that this wasn't set up beforehand (although I don't think it was). Also, when Moore starts barging into houses in Toronto to determine whether Canadians keep their doors locked, this could easily have been arranged before the cameras rolled. We just don't know. Moore claims one thing; his history argues another.

Regardless of how dubious its documentary tactics may be, Bowling for Columbine is powerful, thought-provoking, and, upon occasion, bitingly funny. Moore's easygoing tone never makes the viewer feel threatened - just as his rumpled personal appearance puts his victims and adversaries at ease. He's a predator in disguise. The movie offers something for everyone. Even those who disagree with Moore's politics will find themselves thinking during and after the movie. Whether you agree with the director's conclusions isn't the issue - it's that you recognize the problem.

The point of the film is to determine why gun violence, especially that of children on children, is rampant in this country. At first, Moore is guided by the precept that easy access to guns is the cause. And, despite being a card-carrying NRA member, he is more than willing to point the finger at Heston and his cronies. But, along the way, Moore makes a discovery - there are more guns per household in Canada than in the United States, yet the death toll, even when adjusted to consider the unequal populations, is much lower. This forces Moore to conclude that, while the ready availability of firearms in the United States may be a contributing factor to the high number of gun-related homicides, it's not the primary reason.

Eventually, after conducting various interviews and hopping around the country (and out of it), Moore suggests that fear, enhanced by the media's obsession with death and violent crime, may be the root cause of America's death-by-gun problem. Americans are frightened. They live in gated communities and lock their doors at night. They sleep with loaded guns under their pillows because only a firearm at-ready gives them a sense of security. Fear makes people jumpy and apprehensive, and more apt to resort to violence. And there's no cure for it. It is a societal ill that is perpetuated by the evening news and reality TV shows like "Cops".

Once in a while, Moore goes down a rat hole. He tries, with limited success, to blame the death of a six year-old girl on a work-for-welfare program. If you follow his convoluted logic, it makes a certain kind of sense, but he's stretching things. A more likely culprit is the uncle who didn't keep his gun safely locked away from the youngster who brought it to school and fired it. Strangely, Moore never addresses the issue of gun responsibility and safety.

The film features a number of fascinating interviews. The one with Heston is the most predictable, since there's probably nothing that he and Moore agree upon. The most unusual is probably the chat between the director and James Nichols (the brother of Oklahoma City co-conspirator Terry Nichols), who makes a comment along the lines of: "The pen is mightier than the sword, but you have to have a sword for when the pen fails." Nichols also makes a statement about weapons-grade Plutonium that has to be heard to be believed. Other interview subjects include Columbine alumnist (and co-creator of "South Park") Matt Stone and goth rocker Marilyn Manson (who was blamed in some circles for the Columbine tragedy).

Moore engages in his share of grandstanding stunts, one of which surprisingly pays off. He brings two Columbine survivors to the Michigan headquarters of K-Mart (the ammunition used to shoot them was purchased at a K-Mart store), and asks if the boys can return the bullets that are still in their bodies. The next day, K-Mart announces that, after a 90-day phase out period, it will no longer be selling ammunition. Moore is flabbergasted.

I can predict with a large degree of certainty that Bowling for Columbine will outrage viewers whose political leanings are conservative. In addition to portraying many gun owners in an unflattering light, Moore insinuates that the CIA was indirectly responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (a view that is bound to be unpopular, regardless of how it is presented). The film is at times laugh-aloud, viciously funny (provided you aren't among Moore's targets). But, above all, no matter how much you love or despise the messenger and his means, there's no denying that the message bears consideration and rumination. Imperfect as it may be, Bowling for Columbine is riveting stuff.

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Argumentative Essay On Bowling For Columbine

Bowling for Columbine is a classic Michael Moore film which demonstrates the power of the game of bowling as an alternative for target practise. The Columbine High School massacre is the basis behind the film and Moore shows that the culture of guns in the US has ruined the fabric of this society.

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Bowling For Columbine,
Movie Review

“Bowling for Columbine” Movie Review

Bowling for Columbine is a documentary film directed, produced, and narrated by Michael Moore that explores America’s high rate of gun violence compared to the rest of the world through the tragic Columbine High School shooting. Moore uses extreme bias to sway the viewer’s opinion towards his message throughout the film, including the use of music and displaying American citizens and figures of authority as unintelligent and obsessed with guns and violence. The film also highlights the power of associations in American society and how politicians cater to the majority’s desires rather than what is best for the people. Overall, the documentary effectively sheds light on America’s gun control issue and stimulates interest in politics for the average person.

“Bowling for Columbine” is the Academy award winning documentary film; written, directed, produced, and narrated by Michael Moore. Through the tragic Columbine High School shooting, Moore’s film explores the highly debated question; why does America have such an extraordinarily high rate of gun violence compared to the rest of the world? The film question’s the Columbine shooter’s motives through the media, important figures of American society, and the country’s relaxed gun laws. Bowling for Columbine is a very persuasive film.

Michael Moore uses extreme bias throughout the documentary to sway the viewer’s opinion to match that of the one being stressed throughout its entirety. A very luminous example of this happens at the first scene during the sequence of which the song “What a wonderful world” is played. Dreadful scenes of violence and unnerving facts are shown throughout the time of which the song is played. This is a very effective way of drawing in the audience and viewing America and its violence negatively.

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The music is calming however when played with brutal scenes of violence, it takes on an eerie feeling that causes the viewer to perhaps be fearful of the society they thought for song was safe. Many other techniques are used throughout the film to display Moore’s overall message. American citizens are viewed in this film as generally unintelligent and unknowledgeable. Figures of authority are displayed as moronic racists, and cartoons much like “South Park” also are used biasedly to show America’s overall obsession with guns and violence.

Overall the film is very effective in projecting Moore’s message, through the use of bias, music and factual accuracy. A common theme that revolves around many of Michael Moore’s films, including Bowling for Columbine, is politics. Throughout the film, Michael Moore interview many Americans, many of which state that they would not feel safe without their guns. The film also shows the side of Americans who despise guns and want them gone, mostly through protest.

The gun association is a major part of American society, as shown through the documentary. Therefore America’s politicians feel obliged to meet the needs of the majority of Americans, which for some odd reason is to have guns in society. This proves that associations are what truly have the power in American society. This movie enlightened me somewhat on American politics and that it is not what is right for the people, but what the people want or inevitably do not want.

This film stimulates interest in politics for the average person as it shows that there is a serious gun control issue in America that needs to be addressed. Overall this film effectively enlightens its viewers that there is an issue of gun violence in America, and one that has been building since America’s formation, and greatly increased after the tragedies of 9/11. I highly recommend this film to anyone as it is very interesting and knowledgeable, one of Moore’s greatest films and perhaps the greatest documentary in recent history.

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‘Bowling for Columbine’

“Bowling for Columbine” is the movie which arises many questions. Written and directed by Michael Moore in 2002, it remains topical even today, when the excessive violence breaks out into the world at full speed.

On the twentieth of April, 1999, a horrific event took place at ColumbineHigh School, situated in Columbine, Colorado, United States. Two boys – Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out an appalling cold-blooded massacre. They killed 13 people and injured 21 students. After the shootings both of them committed suicides. The movie “Bowling for Columbine” researches the reason of such an increasing level of violence in the United States. It also investigates and emphasizes the facility of access to the weapon which exists in the country nowadays.

The movie opens with a scene in the bank. Michael Moore, who is also the main narrator, opens a bank account and receives a riffle. The situation takes place in one of the Michigan’s banks. Michael Moore fills a short application form and immediately becomes a possessor of the riffle. The narrator proceeds with an insertion of the short scenes taken from different documentaries, news reports and movies, which create the persuasive effect on the viewer. All members of the scenes are brutally killed by people who possess the guns.

“Bowling for Columbine” proceeds with Michael’s visit to Michigan’s Militia, which became notorious for the blowing up of the federal building. The explosion was set off by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in 1995. It killed 168 people and injured more than 680 victims. Moore interviews James Nichols, who is Terry Nichol’s brother. The man states that the reason of his brother’s actions was his wish to revolt against the government, which according to James Nichols, has enslaved its citizens (1). He mentions that the government’s attitude may cause a “revolt with anger, and there will be blood running down the streets” (1). In contrast to such a cruel and stunning answer Michael Moore reminds his interlocutor how Gandhi revolted against the tyrannical government not using any weapon. Nichols briefly answers “I’m not familiar with that” (1).

The interview with James Nichols is interrupted by Moore’s conversation with two boys who knew Eric (one of the Columbine’s shooters) when he was a child. Both of them mention that Eric was a self-contained and suspicious person. However, Moore’s interviewees are far from being perfect too. The first boy was excluded from school for fighting and bullying others, while the second was on the bomb list. While studying at school he had the so-called “Anarchist’s Cookbook”, which contained the detailed instructions of how to produce a bomb. The following conversation proves that more and more children become interested in weapons already at the young age.

The interview with James Nichols continues. While posing different questions Michael Moore extracts a new piece of information: Nichols in order to protect himself sleeps with a gun under his pillow. James also mentions that the right to possess the weapon is written in the Constitution, and he respects it very much.

The aforementioned episodes which are used at the beginning of the movie convince and end shock the viewer. Undoubtedly, the director has used the most content and thought-provoking interviews aiming at the precise description of the problem. The affordability of the weapons causes the deaths of many innocent people, who have unwillingly become he victims of the cruel and uncontrolled behavior. Michael Moore proves his opinion by providing the figures of the annually killed people in America. If in European and Asian countries this amount does not exceed the level of 200 deaths per year, in America it is 11,127.

As the plot of the movie develops, Michael Moore visits Littleton — a small city, which is considered to be one of the world’s largest weapon makers. Approximately 5000 people work there, many of them have children who study at ColumbineCollege. That is why Michael Moore poses a question: if the parents create the weapons of the mass destruction themselves, why should not children use them? As an answer, the viewer may assume that, probably, the same opinion had Eric and Dylan who used weapons as a way of giving vent to their anger.

The fierce anger and the accessibility of the weapon have the devastating consequences. It has already led to the deaths of many victims, and the amount of annual sufferers tends to remain on the same level. Something must be done. Moreover, the massacres, which happened after the Columbine tragedy, prove the need for the considerable changes. One of the most horrific events was the Virginia Tech massacre which occurred in 2007 at VirginiaPolytechnicUniversity. The figures are astounding: 32 people were killed and 17 were wounded. The massacre was carried out by a student who had been diagnosed with selective mutism — a severe mental disorder. If the usage of the weapon had been forbidden, it would not have appeared in the hands of a mentally ill person. As the result, the tragedy would not have happened at all. One of the latest shootings happened in Aurora, Colorado. During the screening of the movie The Dark Knight Rises , James Holmes entered the cinema and started the shooting – 12 people were killed. The following events prove the topicality of Michael Moore’s movie. The government should restrict the way of making any citizen a possessor of gun — that may be the way out of the problem.

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The Review On Movie About Bowling For Columbine

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Topic: Bowling For Columbine , Movie Review

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