CONTAINS SPOILERS
I walked out of this film more inspired, more outraged, and more gosh darn entertained then I had in ages. This film is compulsory viewing. I think that every high school in Canada and the United States should get a copy of this film and screen it for their students, which is something I have never said about a film before. This film's message is powerful, especially towards teenagers: Do not buy into the fear. Think for yourself. You can make a difference.
Sure, Michael Moore's film-making style can sometimes be infuriating, especially when his ambush-style interviews miss the target - such as the tacky and out of place Dick Clark mini-van scene in Columbine. But for each scene that falls flat, there are countless scenes that will have you laughing through your tears or giggling in fear. From the opening scene where Moore receives a gun for opening an bank account to the ambush of Moses himself, Charlton Heston, Bowling for Columbine steam rolls over it's subject matter with righteous anger and acidic wit, while somehow managing to honor the events at Columbine with compassion and grace.
What makes Columbine work so well is that Moore never loses sight of one very important fact: owning a gun is seductive. Owning a gun is empowering. Owning a gun, for lack of a better word, is fun. As a card-carrying member of the NRA and former champion marksman, Moore has a tremendous intimacy and understanding of why human beings love guns. He understands the joy of loading the carbine. Of aiming, and pulling the trigger and hitting a bulls-eye. The most sensible people in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE are the Michigan Militia, who are normal every day folks who know and respect the power of guns.
Moore understands that having your finger on the trigger of a gun gives you enormous power, highlighting this power most chillingly with the security camera footage of the Columbine killers stalking their prey through the library of their high school. This scene follows a very astute statement from SOUTH PARK creator Trey Parker who wishes he could tell teenagers that "Yes, it is horrible being a teenager. It's was worst time of my life. It will pass. It doesn't last forever."
From this scene, Moore cuts to the Columbine footage, and it is here that he makes his most powerful statement as a filmmaker. The killers open fire in the crowded library. The masses flee in terror, crouching behind tables and chairs, until only scattered bodies remain. Gradually, the killers emerge from the smoke, armed with guns and pipe bombs, looking as cool as Keanu Reeves in THE MATRIX. Moore slows down the footage - like a John Woo or Bruckheimer action sequence - and it sends a chill through you. Not just because what you are seeing is horrible, but because you begin to understand the pure seductive power of the gun. In this video footage, the Columbine Killers are no longer mere teenagers with a screw loose: They are warriors in complete command of the situation. The guns have given them the ultimate power - to stamp out evil as they see it and win the battle. What troubled teenage boy wouldn't want to have this ultimate power? What bullied and ostracized child wouldn't want to have their entire high school cowering in fear before them?
It's not the bikini clad chicks shooting the guns that are seductive, it's the guns themselves.
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE isn't just a chilling and angry rage against the proliferation of gun violence in the United States, it's also an powerful indictment of the media's role in our society. Why do you need a gun? Because the media tells you every day how much crime there is all around us. Why do we need to build a safe room in our homes? Because the media tells us that big black men might come in and kill us. The media sells paranoia because paranoia sells. We don't get excited when we hear that violent crime has decreased 30% since 1970, but we will tune in to see the latest police shoot-out on the freeways of Los Angeles.
Moore then takes us on a tour of suburban Toronto to test out the theory that Canadians don't lock their doors. At one house after another, Moore finds bemused residents peering out at him. "We don't want to prisoners in our own homes" one women says. It is a telling statement as to what each nation believes the definition of "freedom" really is. Americans think that freedom is the right to bear arms and freedom of the press, and yet it is the right to carry automatic weapons and the negligence of the media that proliferates the carnage on American streets. Canadians, British, Germans, Australians, and Japanese all have a high population of guns and a some, such as the Germans and Japanese, have a history as violent as America's. Yet they do not shoot each other so frequently on the streets. They do not put iron bars up on the windows of their living rooms. They do not live in a nebulous fear manufactured by ratings crazy television networks.
In the aftermath of paranoia that has swept the United States after September 11, 2001, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE has become one of the most important and timely documentaries to ever be released into mainstream cinema.
And "Thank you for not shooting me" remains one of the funniest and heartfelt lines of 2002.
I walked out of this film more inspired, more outraged, and more gosh darn entertained then I had in ages. This film is compulsory viewing. I think that every high school in Canada and the United States should get a copy of this film and screen it for their students, which is something I have never said about a film before. This film's message is powerful, especially towards teenagers: Do not buy into the fear. Think for yourself. You can make a difference.
Sure, Michael Moore's film-making style can sometimes be infuriating, especially when his ambush-style interviews miss the target - such as the tacky and out of place Dick Clark mini-van scene in Columbine. But for each scene that falls flat, there are countless scenes that will have you laughing through your tears or giggling in fear. From the opening scene where Moore receives a gun for opening an bank account to the ambush of Moses himself, Charlton Heston, Bowling for Columbine steam rolls over it's subject matter with righteous anger and acidic wit, while somehow managing to honor the events at Columbine with compassion and grace.
What makes Columbine work so well is that Moore never loses sight of one very important fact: owning a gun is seductive. Owning a gun is empowering. Owning a gun, for lack of a better word, is fun. As a card-carrying member of the NRA and former champion marksman, Moore has a tremendous intimacy and understanding of why human beings love guns. He understands the joy of loading the carbine. Of aiming, and pulling the trigger and hitting a bulls-eye. The most sensible people in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE are the Michigan Militia, who are normal every day folks who know and respect the power of guns.
Moore understands that having your finger on the trigger of a gun gives you enormous power, highlighting this power most chillingly with the security camera footage of the Columbine killers stalking their prey through the library of their high school. This scene follows a very astute statement from SOUTH PARK creator Trey Parker who wishes he could tell teenagers that "Yes, it is horrible being a teenager. It's was worst time of my life. It will pass. It doesn't last forever."
From this scene, Moore cuts to the Columbine footage, and it is here that he makes his most powerful statement as a filmmaker. The killers open fire in the crowded library. The masses flee in terror, crouching behind tables and chairs, until only scattered bodies remain. Gradually, the killers emerge from the smoke, armed with guns and pipe bombs, looking as cool as Keanu Reeves in THE MATRIX. Moore slows down the footage - like a John Woo or Bruckheimer action sequence - and it sends a chill through you. Not just because what you are seeing is horrible, but because you begin to understand the pure seductive power of the gun. In this video footage, the Columbine Killers are no longer mere teenagers with a screw loose: They are warriors in complete command of the situation. The guns have given them the ultimate power - to stamp out evil as they see it and win the battle. What troubled teenage boy wouldn't want to have this ultimate power? What bullied and ostracized child wouldn't want to have their entire high school cowering in fear before them?
It's not the bikini clad chicks shooting the guns that are seductive, it's the guns themselves.
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE isn't just a chilling and angry rage against the proliferation of gun violence in the United States, it's also an powerful indictment of the media's role in our society. Why do you need a gun? Because the media tells you every day how much crime there is all around us. Why do we need to build a safe room in our homes? Because the media tells us that big black men might come in and kill us. The media sells paranoia because paranoia sells. We don't get excited when we hear that violent crime has decreased 30% since 1970, but we will tune in to see the latest police shoot-out on the freeways of Los Angeles.
Moore then takes us on a tour of suburban Toronto to test out the theory that Canadians don't lock their doors. At one house after another, Moore finds bemused residents peering out at him. "We don't want to prisoners in our own homes" one women says. It is a telling statement as to what each nation believes the definition of "freedom" really is. Americans think that freedom is the right to bear arms and freedom of the press, and yet it is the right to carry automatic weapons and the negligence of the media that proliferates the carnage on American streets. Canadians, British, Germans, Australians, and Japanese all have a high population of guns and a some, such as the Germans and Japanese, have a history as violent as America's. Yet they do not shoot each other so frequently on the streets. They do not put iron bars up on the windows of their living rooms. They do not live in a nebulous fear manufactured by ratings crazy television networks.
In the aftermath of paranoia that has swept the United States after September 11, 2001, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE has become one of the most important and timely documentaries to ever be released into mainstream cinema.
And "Thank you for not shooting me" remains one of the funniest and heartfelt lines of 2002.