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If so many Americans buy guns to protect themselves and their families, then shouldn’t the United States be the safest country in the world? Perhaps in theory, but in reality the number of gun-related homicides is over 11,000 per year.
In Michael Moore’s newest documentary, Bowling For Columbine, the liberal filmmaker sets out to discover what makes the country so violent, and consequently, why guns play such a large role in the deaths of thousands of Americans per year.
Moore, who also produced and directed the picture, used the shooting spree at Columbine High School as a basis for his examination of the country’s love of guns. In using cases like Columbine and other school shootings, Moore looked for the causes of the violence, as well as the accessibility of guns and the media’s role in portraying violence.
In his usual fashion, Moore talked with a myriad of individuals about guns and violence. He talked with Marilyn Manson about the negative image he received after the killings, James Nichols about his radical views on the government, and even interviewed Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
But, as anyone who has seen Moore’s movies or television shows knows, his documentaries are not simply sit-down interviews. Moore took students who survived the Columbine shootings into the headquarters of K-Mart to protest the selling of ammunition at the company’s stores and confronted Dick Clark about his restaurant’s practice of taking tax breaks for hiring mothers on welfare.
The film did not solely analyze gun ownership; it also examined the United States’ involvement in military maneuvers in other countries, such as the funding of the Taliban to rid the Soviet Union from Afghanistan, and the money it provided to Saddam Hussein to use against Iran. At some points, Moore gives a startling indictment against the government for their action and assistance in the deaths of thousands of civilians through their support of violent regimes in other countries.
The media is not spared from Moore’s analysis of violence. In one interview with Barry Glassner, author of “Culture of Fear,” Glassner tells Moore that, although homicides have declined 20%, media coverage of homicides has increased 600%. Does this increase is sensational reporting have something to do with instilling a fear of violence into the populace of the country?
Bowling For Columbine is not only an interesting look at the impact that guns have on our society, but it is a movie that will make you think. When the movie ended and the credits rolled, the audience sat and pondered, many left the movie already engaged in dialogue about what they saw and its implications for society. Bowling For Columbine is not only a brilliant documentary, but also an impassioned plea to get interested and involved in the government.
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