Bowling For Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)
Bowling For Columbine is a performative documentary made by Michael Moore. Michael Moore is the main character in the documentary as he goes around America and Canada to find out why America has the highest amount of murders per year. The budget was $4 million and it made $58 million on its release. The title is a reference to the Columbine massacre where two kids (Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold) killed 12 students and 1 teacher.
Michael Moore starts by going to open a bank account at a bank in northern Michigan that gives customers a free gun when they make a deposit of a certain size. He emphasises to the audience and the workers how ridiculous this is. We then see a montage of shocking footage involving guns. He then shows the production of missiles and links these weapons of mass destruction to the columbine shooting. He then shows another montage which shoes the US being the aggressor. This is to mock the statement made by a worker at the missile factory who said the missiles are used in defence against aggressors.
Michael Moore then shows various interviews and statements (including his opinion) on why there is so many guns and violence in the US. He sates how there is a factor of fear caused by majorly negative news everyday which scares people into keeping guns. He also compares Canada with America as they have very similar amounts of guns and yet Canadians don’t even lock their doors and have little to no murdered but America has thousands. He then meets with two survivors of the Columbine shooting (Mark Taylor and Richard Castaldo) where the three of them protest against the selling of ammo in all Kmart stores. They successfully managed to do this with the help of the media.
The final part of the documentary shows Michael Moore interviewing Charlton Heston at his house where he repetitively asks why he keeps so many guns in his house. He then presses Charlton Heston about why he lead NRA rallies right after a little girls death in Flint, Michigan (Michael Moore’s hometown). Charlton walks out of the interview to avoid answering.
Throughout the documentary Michael Moore makes very good points although you can see how he affects the audience. The documentary is there to sort of persuade the audience that guns are bad which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Overall it does emphasise the impact of guns in America and I think it was quite effective. My rating is 4.5/5.