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Bowling For Columbine
Directed by Michael Moore
Review by Taryn A. Harris
Michael Moore's documentary on violence
in America is disturbing, thought provoking and at times, extremely
funny.
The film opens with Moore opening an account
at the North Country Bank so that he can get a free gun. After
a few minutes of paperwork, he walks out with a brand new rifle.
A bank giving out free guns?
Michael Moore's probing camera journeys
to Michigan, Colorado, California and Canada in an attempt to
find some answers to some very difficult questions. Why are Americans
so jazzed about guns? Why do Americans shoot each other so much
more than citizens of other developed countries? Why is it that
there are 11,125 deaths due to gun violence in the United States
compared to only 3 in Canada?
If you believe Charlton Heston, President
of the National Rifle Association, it's because of our mixed
ethnicity. Say it isn't so Neville. When Moore becomes too confrontational
and the questions too difficult, Moses walks away.
The film has some really great moments
like a triumph at a Kmart in Colorado, an excerpt from a Chris
Rock performance and an interview with Marilyn Manson.
While I don't care for Manson's music,
I did agree with his assessment that the United States is a nation
of consumption driven by fear. Who's to blame? Parents, teachers,
the government, the media? Yes.
In April 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
went bowling in the morning and then gunned down 12 classmates
and a teacher at Columbine High School. In one of the most disturbing
moments of the film, we see a tape of the two teenage gunmen
attacking students in a library. Will we ever know why they did
it? Who knows? More important are the questions, why does the
U.S. rank highest in deaths due to gun violence and why are we
so afraid?
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