I
have just seen THE most influential movie that I have ever
seen in my entire movie-going
life. Now, before you read below, I
want to warn you that I express my opinion (what a concept!)
in this review, and if you are
sensitive to that, please read at your
own risk. There are also spoilers, but you may have heard
about the events in this movie on
the news, when they actually happened,
so they are not really spoilers.
"Bowling for Columbine" is Michael Moore's take on gun
violence, and he
doesn't hold anything back. I mean, he starts his film
out in a bank, a bank that gives
people a free gun if they open an
account with them. Mike says. "Don't cha think it's a
little dangerous to be
handing out guns in bank?" That is very real. I was
laughing my ass off at the absurdity.
Probably the main focus of the movie is what happened in
Columbine High School April 20th,
1999, but he also goes into depth
into "COPS", the Oklahoma City bombing, the Michigan
militia, and how Bushie senior,
Clinton, and Bushie junior think it's
okay to bomb the hell out of another country, just because
we don't like them. Two wrongs
don't make a right, silly.
One of things I liked about the movie was that not all the shots
were perfect, and some looked
like they were shot just a consumer
camcorder, overblown and grainy, but in a documentary
about real life, which is what a
documentary is, you can get away
with that. No, the whole movie was not shot this way, and
in fact, about 20-30 minutes into
it, the shots cease being grainy
and it looks like they used film, they were very pretty,
not grainy at all, but then he
pretty much goes back to the camcorder
style. I like that, mixing up different styles.
I found it very interesting that how every other country has the
same amount of guns that the
United States has, watches the same violent
movies, plays the same violent games, yet has far less
murders than the USA.
What makes the US different? Michael Moore thinks that it's the
media perpetuating fear and hate,
and so do I. Canada is full of gun
owners and hunters, yet their news corporations don't shove
murder stories down their viewers
throats...and that is why there
are less murders in Canada.
There is a great "history of the USA" cartoon in the
middle of this film,
that every American should watch. It's millions times
better than any history class you
will take, but the highlight of
the movie is when Michael takes two surviving victims of the
Columbine school scooting, to the
Kmart headquarters to tell them
not to sell ammunition anymore (the same ammunition that is
still stuck in both kids' bodies, mind you). They get shunned.
So, what do they do? They go to their nearest Kmart and buy
EVERY piece of ammunition (clean
them out) and bring it back to Kmart's
headquarters, this time with the press. I won't say anymore,
but you all probably heard this on the news, then again
maybe not, since there is is no
violence in this story. Long story
short, Kmart no longer sells ammunition. Michael
Moore also talks about how the media and politicians started
blaming artists and entertainers, when it is they (the
Media) share the blame with the
NRA and every gun owner. The Media
blamed Marilyn Manson, of all people! Haha, gimme a break.
Marilyn
Manson is as guilty as a banana. The
highlight of the movie (yes two of those, who'd a thunk it?)
is when Michael talks to Charlton
Heston in his house, lying about
things just so the devil doesn't kick him out of his house.
He got Charlton Heston to really look like a criminal! I
mean, Heston
turned and walked away when Michael showed a picture
of the 6 year old girl killed in her Flint, Michigan school.
I
get sick whenever I see Charlton Heston, a lot of you know
that. He's cold and heartless, I
mean you can't have a heart if you
hold an NRA conference in Littleton, CO days after the
shooting, or days after the
Flint, Michigan shooting. It's like he
did that because he didn't want more people to turn against
him and his phony bologna
organization. This
is all very nice, James, but what can I do? You
have to see this film, or you are just as guilty as the NRA,
for it will really put things in
perspective for you. We gotta fix
this problem of our country. Don't move to Canada to escape
the murder-rate of this country,
STAY AND HELP FIX THE PROBLEM!
How? Call your network affiliates and complain that they report
too much violence. Reporting
violence just breeds fear and fear just
leads to more violence, BREAK THE CYCLE! I
want to close with the comments that were made by a Baltimore
Sun reviewer named Michael Sragow,
"...the film is one-sided..." Geez,
Mr. Sragow, you sure don't understand this art, for you if
you did, you would know that
filmmaking is always one-sided, because
only one person directs films! (exceptions, I know.) If
you want and like to think while
you are being entertained, see this
film, else go see "Jackass: The Movie", jackass.