WOW! Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine is all at once funny, intelligent, thought provoking, sad, heartbreaking, incendiary, scathing, touching, and scary. This is a documentary with a lot to say about a lot of things (most notably guns and violence in the media and the US's culture of fear and paranoia) and should be required viewing for every single citizen in this country who claims to give a damn. Be warned, some of the images from the Columbine massacre and other horrific events are very very disturbing, but Moore, the master film maker juxtaposes them with hilarious political cartoons (I especially loved the piece about the History of America) and images from campy militia recruitment videos, toy gun commercials, bowling footage, and everything from South Park to Marilyn Manson videos. Hands down the most sobering piece was the montage of American foreign policy decisions that make us look like the worst terrorists (or depending how you view it, police) in the world. The most hopeful segment was the successful campaign to stop KMart from selling firearm ammunition. While this movie is doing bang up business for a documentary and has the sweet aroma of Oscar buzz, I fear that most of middle America (the ones who should really see it) will not, and only radical right wingers looking for more ammunition, or liberal leftists looking for more support of their ideas will go see this film, which leaves poor Michael Moore preaching to both his enemies and the already converted. 10/10.
An aside: Was anyone like me more disturbed by Dick Clark dodging the cameras than the Charlton Heston interview at the end?
An aside: Was anyone like me more disturbed by Dick Clark dodging the cameras than the Charlton Heston interview at the end?