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Bowling For Columbine is the third and most ambitious
documentary to date from lefty filmmaker Michael Moore.
That’s right, Michael Moore the filmmaker. Not to be confused,
as he himself sometimes jokes, with Roger Moore, the
James Bond guy. Not that Moore should have the problem any
longer of being confused with another celebrity. He has a
long list of achievements in his own right, including two
previous documentaries, Roger And Me and The Big
One. He has also been a top ten New York Times
bestselling author on more than one occasion. His most recent
book is Stupid White Men, a scathing attack on corporate
America. And of course he was the brains both behind and in
front of the camera in the critically well-received, now defunct
television series “TV Nation.”
The subject of Moore’s film this time around is gun control,
and the title embodies Moore’s usual wry sense of humor: the
morning of the Columbine high school massacre, the two shooters
showed up for their 6 a.m. bowling class and played a couple
of games as if it were a perfectly normal morning in middle
America. But as Moore briskly points out, everything is not
well and good in Littleton, Colorado or practically anywhere
else across America. There are more than 11,000 murders in
America every year due to gun-related violence. Who is to
blame for these record-high gun deaths? Canada certainly doesn’t
have this problem. Moore points out how good-natured Canadians
are by demonstrating how no one up north seems to lock their
front door. And we’re told that practically every other country
in the free world has gun fatalities at a mere fraction of
the rate in the United States. So what’s the cause of all
this gun violence? Hang on to your seat, because according
to Moore, just about every facet of American society is to
blame. A pathological fear of race and ethnicity makes us
trigger happy. Our capitalist system forces welfare mothers
to work for pittance wages while their unattended children
carry guns to school. Evil corporations pay substandard wages
or close their factory doors, creating poverty and desperation.
Television journalists focus too narrowly on crime stories,
and create the erroneous impression danger is always lurking
nearby. U.S. foreign policy promotes a militaristic society.
And let’s not forget about the NRA. They shamelessly promote
gun culture and the right to bear arms, regardless of the
human cost.
Moore has to be one of the most quick-witted minds in America,
but his sheer greediness makes a mess of this documentary.
I mean, we know corporations suck. We know draconian welfare
laws unfairly burden the working poor and we know U.S. foreign
policy is hypocritical. Now, it is true, as any sincere liberal
will tell you, it just feels good to see Michael Moore openly
challenge the likes of K-Mart whose stores carry easily accessible
bullets that cost a mere 14 cents apiece. Sure, Michael Moore
is right, but does he have to coldcock us by exhaustively
covering every single angle on gun violence? Moore is so eager
to flaunt his liberal agenda that the film seems to wander
aimlessly and the subject of gun control sometimes gets lost
in a morass of righteous indignation.
In fact, this time around it’s a little embarrassing to watch
Moore pull off his signature escapade, tracking down a famous
celebrity/CEO and holding him accountable for the latest social
travesty. This was the theme behind Moore’s first film, the
relentless yet comical pursuit of Roger Smith, C.E.O.
of General Motors. In the end, his efforts to confront Smith
about plant closings in Flint, Michigan proved futile, but
it firmly established Moore’s signature theme. This time the
object of his pursuit is NRA president and film actor Charlton
Heston, but by now Moore is an old pro at the game of
chase and hooking up with “Moses” himself is a cakewalk. He
is able to literally waltz up to the front gate of Heston’s
Beverly Hills mansion and secure an interview.
The climax of Bowling For Columbine then occurs during
his subsequent exchange with Heston. Moore can be a master
at pinning down his subjects and pointing out their duplicitous
ways and during his chat with Heston the tension was almost
palpable in anticipation of a blowout of biblical proportions.
But this time the effort proved anticlimactic. Tired of repeating
himself, an agitated Heston merely got up and walked out of
the interview. As a gesture of defiance Moore boldly held
up a picture of a 6-year-old shooting victim, but Heston merely
shuffled off in oblivion. Maybe Moore scored a victory here,
but it was not the epic victory anyone had hoped for, it was
more like a Pyrrhic one. Once again, so much effort was spent
assigning blame for gun violence that we’re too exhausted
to savor this final moment of the film. Some people might
disagree with this and say Michael Moore got his man. But
sometimes you’ve got to pick your battles carefully. When
you make a film and throw in everything but the kitchen sink,
it’s hard to tell if you’re scoring points legitimately or
merely hitting filmgoers over the head and rendering them
unconscious. Michael Moore may be standing up for the little
guy, but Bowling For Columbine winds up leaving its
viewers like pins at the end of the lane with a ten-pound
ball barreling towards you.
—Nancy Semin
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out of 5
While we would never encourage anyone to destroy a video... 
