Bowling For Columbine Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)October 21st, 2002
Bowling for Columbine
Full Price Feature
Number one - with a bullet! If you don't know, this is Michael Moore's latest documentary, this time about the culture of violence in America, especially as per gun killing. Some terrifying statistics are reported in this film; I wish I could have recorded it to a hard disc in my head to give myself facts on hand for future discussion. It is not a personal paean of self-aggrandizement as some have suspected; C-Span has conditioned us to expect nothing but that.
Regardless whether you agree with his message or not, Moore's gifts as a filmmaker cannot be denied. His editing and contrasting of footage and audio tell a greater story than the individual bytes being parsed. Shrewd editing wrings the most content from his quiet, laissez-faire interview style. Moore lets them do all the talking - it seems as though he must be leading their answers because, well, how can people be so foolish as to spout off in a way that so clearly illustrates how dangerous/wrong/deceptive they are? People do.
He manages to infuse this carnival of horrors with enough humor laughter obscured dialogue. The laughter in my audience was from their delight, watching his subjects shoot themselves in the foot, as it were. He asks the right questions, and they are questions that need asking, need asking in a public forum, and the very absence of coherent answers is chilling enough. His regular guy manner and Hollywood influence get him meetings with barflies and movie stars, for great juxtaposition.
I know many of us feel the same way about our society but have been unable to verbalize it. It may be too simplistic to say that our culture is the way it is due to one thing or another; no doubt it is a complex web of many things. But few have addressed this angle of the issue, and it needs addressing. If it is one-sided, it is certainly the side we don't see, unless we listen between the lines on NPR or hang out with Noam Chomsky.
Why is our gun murder rate 100-300 times greater than in any other country in the world? Why are we so quick to send troops, deploy ships, whip out a shotgun and yell "Get off my lawn?" We can shoot each other because we are completely detached from a sense of community, interrelation, interdependence. Other industrialized (not just Western) countries enjoy the same supposedly inappropriate stimulus as us, have guns, have corrupt leaders, have "mixed ethnicities" in their cities, what is the difference?
It is attitudes, fear, misinformation, a self-centered, consumer culture. We've heard this, as an explanation as to why "they" hate us, but we are surrounded by enough self-induced terror, who needs zealots making a move in our direction. It's a sobering movie, but very well-stated.
Canada - we joke it's the largest of our 51 states, but no one there is denied medical care all ("it's a basic human right," scoffs an Ontario teen), there are 7 million guns in 10 million households, yet less than 40 gun deaths a year. The US has over 11,000 gun deaths a year, many uninsured persons. AND they are legalizing pot. Why do we make fun of Canada again?
There are so many beautiful, unspoken moments in Bowling. I wish I could spoil some of it for you but you will just have to go see it. Moore quotes the social commentary as hilariously propagandized by South Park the movie, a keen social commentary on blame and social responsibility, worthy of the same audience Moore carries. Truth hurts, even when you can laugh at it.
It is also delicious to hear how irrational and crazy the government officials sound, blaming Marilyn Manson for the crazy teens (but not Eminem? Explain that), yet the Artist Formerly Known As Brian had some very wise things to say. Also, there is a brilliant animated short in the middle of the film which I wish was available for download - it's a fantastic miniature summary of Moore's thesis.
If you recall in the 1980's, there were picket lines around the theatres playing a little movie that dared to show the human side of Jesus' man/god nature. People who had not seen the film picketed it, reviled it, and claimed its one-sidedness was sinful. One must see both sides of any major debate, and that film operated under the premise that plenty has been done with Jesus' God-side. Moore's film is the Last Temptation of Charleton. The people who most need to see it won't, and I wish I could change that - I hope my readers who see it will help as well. Roger Ebert yapped at some length about Moore's excessive use of "theatre." Without the organized presentation, the public embarrassment of the guilty, the message would not be heard. World famous improviser Keith Johnston says that we go to the theatre to see people change. We watch Michael Moore hoping for this change. Keep the theatre, Mike, it is what makes your message both understandable and heard.
I'm sure I'm going to get loads of disgruntled email from my readers, who do not have to agree with me, but I hope they will see the film and argue with me intelligently. Better yet, see the film, and challenge someone you can speak to in person to see it as well and discuss it with them. I am here to recommend (or not) films, and all politics aside, this is a fantastically made film.
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These reviews (c) 2002 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but just credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks.
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