SummaryFamed documentarian Michael Moore returns with his first feature film in five years, as he tackles the issue of America's unique obsession with firearms.
SummaryFamed documentarian Michael Moore returns with his first feature film in five years, as he tackles the issue of America's unique obsession with firearms.
That broad range of subject matter is indicative of the messy, meandering structure of the movie. But if Moore fails to tie this unwieldy movie into a lucid thesis, at least every tangent he chases down has its own payoff.
Hands down Michael Moore's best film. Dark, funny, haunting, and informative all at once. Michael Moore is a master of rhetoric, and this documentary does more than shed light on a subject, it forms an opinion and demands action of it's viewers. Inflammatory, incendiary, and thought provoking, this documentary is a must see!
As relevant today as it was 12 years ago, Bowling For Columbine features Michael Moore addressing the subjects of firearms, race, fear and prejudice in a totally engaging documentary that never falls short and continues to surprise and educate even up to its bittersweet end. Participatory documentary at its finest.
Often uproariously funny, even though much of its queasy power comes from its acknowledgment that some matters are too horrifying to be washed away with cheap laughter, or packaged into soundbites.
Moore brilliantly unmasks the inanity of the arguments used in the debate over gun control in America. He then undermines himself by leaping into the blame game without supporting his central thesis, that the media is what makes teens like the ones at Columbine turn around and shoot up their schools.
Bowling for Columbine is thought-provoking, cleverly made, unsettling and powerful all at once. It's not a film about gun control, but the violent and disturbing nature of this problematic country. This is a masterpiece of a documentary that will shock, disturb, and ultimately enrage its viewers and make them question the system. You'd think what you knew about the country beforehand was already crazy enough, but Michael Moore tells you otherwise.
Informative and haunting, Michael Moore again shed's light on a horrific tragedy caused by Harris and Klebolt and addresses the subject of firearms, race, fear and prejudice in a compelling and educational forum
The dark and comic tone of "Bowling for Columbine" attempts to outline the seriousness of its content, through its condescending questions to various citizens and first hand look at some unimaginable situations, the film is a look at the simplicity of picking up a firearm in America, writer, investigator, director and the sarcastic Michael Moore narrates various facts about the National Rifle Association, the pro-gun movement, he interviews some of the most colourful individuals on screen, including a young man who sleeps with a gun under his pillow and a young man who makes his own bombs, including homemade napalm.
The title refers to the tragic actions of two gun-wielding and bomb-making students who massacred students and teachers in Columbine High School, after a carefully orchestrated attack, an event that made people question gun control in the United States. We then see a video collage with words to various deals and decisions that the American government has made over the years, giving weapons to a country they later invade, removing democratically elected presidents and replacing them with dictators, which ironically has Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" playing over it, a startling reminder of what those in power of capable of. We then see video footage of the Columbine tragedy, as a teacher makes a frantic call to the emergency services as the gunmen turned to face the room the caller was in. What happened after was equally as disturbing, the blames, security measures and segregation of children was quite unbelievable.
The film explores this blame and questions just what makes the Free World different from every other country, we share the same entertainment and pop culture variance, things which are blamed for these mass shootings, why does the rest of the world not have such a startling firearm death statistic as the USA. Moore has created a satirical view of serious issues that need addressed, he questions why larger issues are clouded by more menial ones, he also combines this with a perfect soundtrack, one which reflects the material on show, his interactions with a wide variety of people, from rural to urban areas of the States and even up to Canada, trying figure out the source if these problems, he puts the real problems right in "important" people faces and it's unfortunate to see such a cold reaction.
This is touching, disturbing and influential documentary that hits the problems where they hurt, but accepts the fact that it can't do enough to change a nation, little instances happen, but they are blips on a massive scale that barely matter.
This movie is not a documentary is it propaganda, Micheal Moore does not want you to think for yourself, instead of exploring the different sides of a issue in an curious impartial manner, he basically makes a movie about why everyone he disagrees with is a fool, he also comes across as narcissistic. utter drivel
Production Company
United Artists,
Alliance Atlantis Communications,
Salter Street Films International,
Vif Babelsberger Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Zweite KG,
Dog Eat Dog Films,
Iconolatry Productions Inc.,
TiMe Film- und TV-Produktions GmbH,
United Broadcasting Inc.