BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
Reviewed by Sam Hatch
Michael Moore has long been the 'enfant terrible' of documentary filmmaking – before his freshman outing Roger & Me, serious subject material had never been dealt with in such a bitingly funny and ironic fashion. He proved that ‘important' documentaries could still be wildly entertaining whilst still allegedly educating the audience. He followed that feature up with the less focused The Big One, but after two cancelled television series and a few best selling non-fiction books, Moore is tackling nothing less than America's culture of violence, and attempting to weed out its source and answer the question of why we kill ourselves more than any other nation around the world.
Of course the answer turns out to be that there is no discernible answer, but you have to hand it to the guy for trying. The journey begins with a commentary on the Columbine High School shootings of 2000, and tries to examine gun culture and why we tend to use them more than everyone else. Moore goes to a bank that hands out free rifles upon opening a checking account. He then interviews a very unstable and creepy James Nichols, brother of Timothy McVeigh's partner in the Oklahoma City Bombing scenario. James proves his mettle by holding a gun to his head (albeit off camera) and threatening (hoping?) to off himself. Maybe not the best advocate for gun use, but worse is yet to come.
Moore's trademark cynicism and quick wit is consistently on display, as he pitches an alternative version of TV's COPS to show producer Dick Hurlin, in which cameras would follow around cops as they arrest white collar criminals. The response… no go, unless you can get the suits to throw cell phones at the officers and attempt to crawl out of windows. One moment in which his cynical intent is abruptly castrated happens during a trip to the corporate Kmart headquarters with a wheelchair-bound Columbine survivor still riddled with bullets, in an attempt to 'return them' to the company. To everyone's surprise, the usual corporate foyer standoff results in a public announcement that Kmart will cease sales of assault rifle ammunition.
The most controversial element is the fabled meeting between Moore and NRA chairman Charlton Heston, as good old Chuck blames (among other things) minorities as a primary cause of violence in America. It is here where Moore tries to return the saga to his hometown of Flint, Michigan, with the tale of a young girl killed in a school shooting right before Heston came to town with a pro-NRA rally. Moore's interview has been criticized by those claiming that Heston was in the throes of Alzheimer's by the time of the interview, resulting in a rather one-sided boxing match. Further still, many accuse Moore of staging many of his scenarios, which could go a long way towards explaining how his documentaries are so damned entertaining. What the exact truth is, I know not. But I do know that those Canadians are crazy for leaving their doors unlocked all the time. If they really do that is.