Michael Moore’s latest documentary-style message picture is darkly named Bowling for Columbine, in reference to the last reported activities of the two named shooters in the Columbine High School Massacre. It’s an excellent and powerful film about guns in America at times, but at times it rankles with the one-sidedness of Truth.com propaganda.
Bowling for Columbine opens with a stunt similar to the ones Moore used to pull on TV Nation. Moore and a camera crew walk into a bank and open an account that features the premium of a free rifle. Like most of the best TV Nation segments, the entertainment comes from the absurd reality of the situation in moments such as a bank officer proudly explaining that they are a bank and a licensed gun dealer. While Moore gets off a couple decent lines, his “I’m smarter than these hicks” smirk makes his point while ignoring anything that might contradict his smugness.
His punchline (featured also in the trailer so I feel I’m not stepping on any toes) is, “Do you think it’s a little dangerous handing out guns in a bank?” It makes for a fine scene and a decent laugh, but would one think it was dangerous to hand out guns from a licensed gun dealer? Gun dealers have a lot of money around, but how often do you think they are robbed? Probably not all that often. It is shortsightedness like this, along with an easily distracted focus, that mars an otherwise fine film.
As long as the viewer takes this film, as I believe Moore intended it to be, as one man’s take on things and as a springboard to do some research and thought on the subject, that’s fine. But the danger is that audiences will take the film as gospel. After all, it was shot on handheld video, therefore it must be true.
All of the film’s true gems come filed under the “it’s funny because it’s true” category. Some of the best bits include bad corporate films and inspired juxtapositions. A Lockheed-Martin executive mouths the standard, “I can’t understand why these kids would think they should just lash out at their enemies with violence” statement while standing in front of a Titan missile.
The manufactured parts of Bowling are where most of the film’s misfires come from. Mainly an overly long mildly amusing cartoon segment about the history of guns in America that I’m sure many a hip school teacher will show for class, as it fits right into the standard “the Civil War was all about slavery” dogma.
Though Bowling for Columbine doesn’t become the anti-Second Amendment rant it could have degenerated into, there is a definite anti-gun undertone. Sure, Moore over and over again states that he is a Lifetime NRA member but we never hear why and when he gained that lifetime membership, which as of now is a mere 750 dollars.
It’s understood that the game of documentary filmmaking is all about what you show and what you don’t, and Moore has never pretended that he was unbiased, but with some distance from the film his arguments are as lopsided as the opening segment’s punchline.
In covering a Marilyn Manson appearance in Denver after the Columbine shootings, Manson is painted as a defender of the First Amendment and the protesters are the bad guys, but when Chuck Heston and the NRA come to town the protesters to that are now the good guys. Moore’s whole handling of the aging star leaves a bad taste.
While much of this has been griping, overall the film succeeds. A brutal “What a Wonderful World” montage hits home, and Moore walking into unlocked houses knocks it out of the park. Bowling for Columbine is probably the best film Michael Moore has done and I look forward to his next picture, but in his next picture I hope for a tighter focus and more deeply explored thesis.
Bowling is that odd must-see even if you don’t agree with it. While it is indeed powerful, think of it as an after school special for grownups and go to your local library to “read more about it.”
