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Review by: Heather Metherell | Rating:
Two
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Theatrical trailer.
IT'S NOT often that a film leaves you so stunned by its content
that you can't speak, or so moved by its message that you feel
the need to gather everyone in from the streets to see it for
themselves - but that's exactly what Michael Moore's latest feature
length documentary, Bowling for Columbine, does.
Thirteen years after his debut with the critically-acclaimed Roger
& Me, Moore returns with a no-holds barred investigation into
American gun culture, centring on the Columbine High School massacre
of 1999.
For those of you who are familiar with Moore's television programmes,
The Awful Truth and Michael Moore's TV Nation, it won't come as
a surprise that this incredible, hard-hitting documentary is as
laugh-out-loud funny, as it is distressing. Yet, it is this strange
mix of humour and heartbreaking tragedy that makes it so unique,
and so deeply moving.
After watching the film, I felt I had entered the cinema completely
naive to the gravity of the problem America has with its gun culture.
In a way, I had dismissed the American love affair with weaponry
as almost comical, seeing an American with a gun, just as I see
a French man with a baguette. It has become a part of their international
stereotype.
What Moore's clever film does, however, is to mix disturbing facts
and figures with a satirical look at what a gun means to the average
American. It begins with Moore opening an account at a bank, where
the free gift for joining is a gun. As cheekily as ever, Moore
then proceeds to ask a member of staff: "Isn't it a bit dangerous
handing out guns in a bank?"
The film then follows Moore on a journey around smalltown America,
concentrating on Littleton, Colorado, the home of the Columbine
shootings.
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We see previously unseen footage of the security tapes from
the cameras in the cafeteria on the morning of the mass murder
that claimed the lives of 12 students, including some tremendously
affecting footage of the father of one of the victims, protesting
at a National Rifle Association (NRA) gun rally that visited
Columbine only a week after the tragedy.
Equally as distressing is a look at the bigger picture, as we
are given the history of American intervention over the past
50 years, including the day the nation conducted the largest
bombing in the Kosovo War - which just happened to be the same
day as the Columbine mass murder.
There was a combined intake of breath when the number of annual
gun-related deaths in other countries, such as Canada (165)
and Great Britain (68), was compared to America's whopping 11,127.
Yet anyone thinking that this is a heavy-handed, preachy affair,
packed with alarming facts and figures that are better suited
to programmes such as Panorama, rather than the Big Screen,
had best think again. Part of Moore's appeal lies in the charm
and genuine concern he displays for the subject, which makes
his interviews so interesting.
He seems to manage to ask the questions everyone would love
to ask, without the interviewee being aware of it, and even
manages to get an interview with Charlton Heston, president
of the NRA, which extracts an outrageous response.
Another fascinating aspect about the subject choice is the fact
that Moore, himself, is a lifetime member of the NRA, and a
self-confessed patriot, so his profound questioning of the American
dream seems all the more legitimate.
This is a film that everyone should see, which should also be
made compulsory viewing in schools the world over. Never before
have I felt so united with other members of a cinema audience,
as we all experienced shock, tears and laughter simultaneously.
Bowling For Columbine is a must see!
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