Bowling For Columbine Review

by David N. Butterworth (dnb AT dca DOT net)
December 3rd, 2002
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2002 David N. Butterworth

*** (out of ****)

    Incendiary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Roger & Me") does what he does best in "Bowling for Columbine," an arch, humorous, and altogether scary look at American gun culture, questioning why American society is considerably more violent than, say, our neighbors to the North (Canadians own about 7 million hand guns all told but barely have a homicide to show for those numbers). Moore
takes the Littleton, Colorado high school tragedy as his catalyst,
interviewing
survivors, prominent officials, and celebrities (among them Marilyn Manson, Matt Stone, and National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston) and blending
these commentaries with a deft mix of archive footage, media coverage, "South Park"-inspired animation, and his own inimitable style of waltzing into places like K-Mart's head offices and asking its top brass how come teenagers can buy K-Mart purchased bullets to kill other teenagers. "Bowling for Columbine" is an unnerving documentary that's aimed as much to shock as to make its audience question the role the news media plays in creating a maelstrom of fear and paranoia
that forces individuals to exercise their right to bear arms. Moore, himself a card carrying member of the NRA, asks simple, straightforward questions in a controlled yet naturalistic way, eliciting frightening responses from many of those he interviews--the Michigan teen whose bomb-making practices placed him at No. 2 on the "Most Likely To..." list in the wake of the Columbine shootings;
the brother of an Oklahoma City bomber who admits the pen to be mightier than the sword... "but what if the pen fails? There are wackos out there!"; and Heston himself, who walks out on Moore when asked if he considered it insensitive
of the NRA to hold a rally in Flint, Michigan after a six-year-old shot and killed another six-year-old. "Bowling for Columbine" isn't always pretty, but it's never less than disarming.

--
David N. Butterworth
dnb@dca.net

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