Bowling For Columbine
Directed by Michael Moore
 |
There's a lot more ground to cover -- exercises with paramilitary groups in Michigan, talking to James Nichols, interviewing Columbine parents and survivors, debating poverty and welfare reform and Canadian social policies, killer bees and the war in Bosnia. We even visit an amazing little bank in North Dakota that gives guns as premiums for opening Certificates of Deposit. Mr. Moore sagely asks: "Is it a good idea to give out guns in a bank?" There is no real response, but they do perform a background check on him just to make sure. He's clean. Then it's off to some disaffected youth in Michigan, one who sells stolen guns and drugs, and another that was disappointed not to be named "Guy Most Likely to Detonate a Pipe Bomb in Gym Class." We probably don't really want these guys owning weapons, but they are who so many Americans turn to get them in a pinch.
The high point of this random access film is an animated history of America, narrated by Mr. Bullet. There's no credit given to the South Park creators, but it sure looks like their work as the whites get off the boat in Plymouth and start killing their way into the 21st century. Trey Parker speaks with some authority on high school, being a Columbine alum himself and detailing why high schools sucked then and now. Perhaps the best-aimed shot of the film wings the local news media in America, a group who lived by the philosophy of "If it bleeds, it leads." Crime is down, but crime coverage is up. Maybe we only THINK we have a problem. After all, that's how Hearst started the Spanish American War.
Bowling raises a ton of good points, but fails miserably to connect them into any sort of coherent narration. Moore points the finger of social failure in all directions, and the result is a great collection of genuinely funny and touching moments assembled into a difficult to digest film. It's a Porky Pig diatribe on an important topic -- angry and fulminous and nearly impossible to follow. Moore interviews gun fanatics, and one is glad he's not in their camp. His sense of diffuse anger is identical to that of any of his subjects, just pointed in other directions. What Moore does best is corner people and ask them embarrassing questions until they either slam the door in his face or come across as complete idiots. It fun to see the result, but it's never enough to become a call to arm or disarm. The take away line is we are all a bunch of sick puppies, afraid of own shadow and ready to shoot it dead. Looks like it's another thing for us all to worry about.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Carl F. Gauze
