The character is based on the real Moore, of course, but the films isolate only those aspects that the topic at hand can utilize, broad strokes in a selective self-portrait. Playing a one-liner-throwing David ready to take on the next Goliath has helped Moore reach a mainstream audience. It remains the highest-grossing documentary in U.
That kind of success can foster resentment, especially when so many documentary filmmakers struggle for solvency and distribution. But the fact is, Moore operates at the nexus of journalism, activism, and entertainment, and he merits evaluation from all three angles. Bowling for Columbine must also be considered on its own genre-blending terms; evaluating it strictly as journalism would be as inadequate as treating it as simple entertainment.
That Moore had no interest in obeying any rules, be they of documentary filmmaking or of decorum, was an asset, if anything. Perhaps above all else, Moore is a comedian.
Moore is an ace at writing for his own voice, and from front to back, he delivers both rueful couplets on ruined American dreams and witheringly sardonic summations of American hypocrisy and greed. In both a formal and tonal sense, Moore is establishing a culture in which anything goes, any texture or method belongs. The conversation between Moore and the producer however, is weak and altogether too subtle.
In another segment, Moore asks Canadians about the security of having a national health care service but leaves the point dangling in the air. Surprisingly, it is rock star, Marilyn Manson who provides one of the more articulate interviews.
Manson raises the issue of consumerism and how America's ultra commercial culture is designed to alleviate guilt, fear and other unpleasant feelings. The same thing happens with childcare, a vital service for working parents but in America only for those who can afford to pay for it. In one of the most poignant segments of the documentary, this important issue is touched on but never developed.
Here Moore introduces us to a welfare mother who, evicted from her home, was forced to live with a relative who owned a handgun. Her son was left virtually unsupervised when she was forced by new welfare-to-work rules to commute 80 miles a day and work 70 hours a week at two different jobs in order to pay her rent and meet her expenses.
Her 6 year old son found the gun in the house and took it to school where he shot and killed a first grade classmate, a little girl who was also 6 years old. This is one of the saddest and most sobering moments in the film but its point is far too subtle for those who don't want to see it.
This is what makes Bowling for Columbine disappointing and frustrating even at the moments when it makes you laugh. The journalism is shallow because there is virtually no analysis or interpretation. Instead, Moore bounces around like a pinball machine, documenting again and again how much Americans like guns. We hear glib comments from low-lifers who sell stolen guns as easily as used washing machines, bank tellers who give away rifles to new customers and a man who sleeps with a 44 magnum under his pillow.
We hear again and again how easy it is to own a gun, but we never hear about the essential quality-of-life differences between America and other modern industrial nations that offer some measure of security under social democracy. In this way, Bowling for Columbine is preaching to the converted and will never convince the conservatives to alter their views. Moore's second question is critical yet he merely skates over it: Why do Americans accept violence as a way to solve problems?
In Bowling for Columbine , we're introduced to this concept in a collage of historical segments showing American military intervention, edited ironically to Louie Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World. This deeply seeded but otherwise unconscious attitude comes under the rubric of manifest destiny that says: America is special and therefore entitled to act differently from other nations.
It means if America wants to act as the world's Rambo Cop, using violence to solve problems, it is perfectly acceptable. The war in Iraq happened after his film was completed but documents his premise. Says Moore: "Let's just go for that gun and that's how we're going to resolve our disputes. The guy who's sitting in the Oval Office We don't need any more inspections, let's just bomb them and we'll find out later if they have the weapons.
That's the American way. Zeitgeist is the spirit of the age, as the dictionary defines it to be, but in my own terms it is the paranoia or 'scream' of a given epoch. For instance, the international fads like high-speed Internet, diminutive cell phones that miraculously slide and fit comfortably in your jean pocket, and convenient photo-taking digital cameras reflect the zeitgeist of many developed countries of.
Filmmaker Michael Moore utilises emotive reflection and irony to explore political topics that interfere with the everyday American's life. Within his documentary "Bowling for Columbine", Moore deeply examines the gun loving culture of Americans, whilst greatly inspiring advocacy for stricter gun policies and low availability of bullets.
He documents how the U. With interviews with people like Charlton Heston , former President of the National Rifle Association, who lives in a fortified mansion, Moore shows how easy it is to acquire guns and munitions - with examples of a bank giving a free gun just for opening a bank account, and of one particular municipality that makes gun-ownership mandatory.
Moore then links the involvement of the U. Political documentary filmmaker Michael Moore explores the circumstances that lead to the Columbine High School massacre and, more broadly, the proliferation of guns and the high homicide rate in America.
In his trademark provocative fashion, Moore accosts Kmart corporate employees and pleads with them to stop selling bullets, investigates why Canada doesn't have the same excessive rate of gun violence and questions actor Charlton Heston on his support of the National Rifle Association.
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