Love him or hate him Michael Moore is the king of the documentary. Bowling for Columbine, in my opinion is his best work. One technique that stood out to me , is the editing. For example, after a video montage of graphic violence from throughout United States history, he cuts to a woman saying that this is a great place to raise her kids. It is that sort of irony that actually brings a very dark sense of humor to Moore's films. Most importantly however is the amount of information Moore puts in this film. This ranges from statistics about the US funding assassination and dictators, to how many gun deaths there are per year in different countries. These statistics provide the backbone to Moore's film. The real meat however comes in the form of the interviews and the footage from various events.
To me the stand out interviews were with Marilyn Manson and NRA president Charlton Heston. Marilyn Manson was any easy scapegoat for the Columbine shootings. When Moore interviewed him, he was surprisingly well spoken. It was very powerful to see a man who was vilified and feared to be so down to earth. Manson himself admitted, "I'm a poster boy for fear." The strongest part of the interview was when Moore asked Mason what would he have said to the Columbine shooters. Manson had the perfect response, he would not have said anything, he would have just listened because no one else ever did. The film culminates to the one on one interview between Moore and NRA president Charles Heston. When Moore asks Heston why American has so many more people killed a year by guns than in other countries, Heston gives the same answers Moore has proved wrong the whole film. Heston actually argued that the US had a more violent history than Germany. The most disturbing part of the interview was how Heston refused to look at the picture of the six year old girl shot in Flint, and refused to apologize for having an NRA rally shortly after both Columbine and the Flint shooting.
There was so much content in this film that it is almost impossible to mention it all hear. However, Moore put together a thought provoking documentary that really made me think about some of the mentalities in this country. Why do we kill so many more people than other countries? As the cartoon in the film illustrates (no pun intended) fear is the driving force behind most of this film.
The only thing I wish the film did more of was offer solutions. It was amazing that Moore helped KMart to take ammunition off its shelves, but it is only a small step. There is not a simple answer to any of the issues in the film. Chris Rock may have been joking, but his idea for a solution to gun violence is the best I have heard.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you brought up the editing of Moore’s film. The editing is important to any film, and I agree that Bowling for Columbine is ironic in the way that he uses humor to show a grain of truth. Of course Chris Rock was joking, but sometimes through comedy we can see the flaws of the system. We can laugh all the want at Rock’s solution, because it sounds preposterous to a country where guns and ammunition have been widely available for as long as we can remember, but as we can see by the end of the film, access to ammunition is part of the problem of gun control. Anyone can buy ammunition from Kmart or Walmart, but this should be regulated as much as purchasing a gun, because the only people who need ammunition are gun owners. Ammunition should not be sold to anyone who asks for it.
My two favorite scenes in the film were the interviews with Marilyn Manson and Charlton Heston. The fact that Marilyn Manson receives so much flack from the media, seeing him in an alternative light, truly shows that the press has distorted his image as the “poster boy of fear,” as you mentioned. Manson spoke softly and honestly, rather than Heston who couldn’t give one honest answer. He hid behind false facts and traditional American gun rights that couldn’t be more outdated in my opinion. I’m not a huge fan of Moore, but he gives an outlet for stories outside the mainstream to be told, Manson's being a prime example. Like the boys who committed the school shootings at Columbine, no one listened to his side of the story, which just propels the vicious cycle of silence forcing people to act violently to be heard.
ReplyDelete