Movie Review: Bowling for Columbine
By Purple
"Bowling for Columbine" is a new documentary by Michael Moore and it's an important movie for our times. As the creator of "Roger and Me" and the short lived "TV Nation", Moore has established himself with his in your face video journalism style that sheds light onto the dark corners that corporate America would rather people forget. But the tragic nerve that Moore steps on with "Bowling for Columbine" is too painful and relevant to ignore.
At a time when people all across America find themselves living in daily fear of foreign terrorist threats and crazed snipers in the streets, this movie asks us as Americans to question why - why have we become a nation living in fear and violence. Is the media? The government? That Marilyn Manson music ? Moore picks up his camera and hits the road to try to find out.
The movies title refers to the elective bowling class that the crazed students attended in the morning prior to their notorious assault on Columbine high school in Colorado. Using the tragedy as a focal point, Moore guides us through interviews, news clips, and an ongoing road trip that introduces us to people whose lives have been changed forever by guns.
Clearly Moore isn't objective in his reporting, and he has an angle in his work, but in "Bowling For Columbine" it's not what you may think.
NRA supporters will surely miss what this movie is getting at. Despite its tone, "Bowling For Columbine" isn't about removing peoples right to bear arms, but about dealing with the fact that people in the USA kill more people with firearms than any other culture combined.
The biggest flaw I see with "Bowling for Columbine" is that the audience who will fill up the independent movie houses that screen it probably already get its timely message, while the Middle Americans who need to watch "Bowling for Columbine" the most, are penned in their dens absorbing the latest fear on CNN. All I can say is I hope this message gets to them - Unlock your doors, leave the your house, and go out and see this movie.
For Movie Magazine this is Purple.
At a time when people all across America find themselves living in daily fear of foreign terrorist threats and crazed snipers in the streets, this movie asks us as Americans to question why - why have we become a nation living in fear and violence. Is the media? The government? That Marilyn Manson music ? Moore picks up his camera and hits the road to try to find out.
The movies title refers to the elective bowling class that the crazed students attended in the morning prior to their notorious assault on Columbine high school in Colorado. Using the tragedy as a focal point, Moore guides us through interviews, news clips, and an ongoing road trip that introduces us to people whose lives have been changed forever by guns.
Clearly Moore isn't objective in his reporting, and he has an angle in his work, but in "Bowling For Columbine" it's not what you may think.
NRA supporters will surely miss what this movie is getting at. Despite its tone, "Bowling For Columbine" isn't about removing peoples right to bear arms, but about dealing with the fact that people in the USA kill more people with firearms than any other culture combined.
The biggest flaw I see with "Bowling for Columbine" is that the audience who will fill up the independent movie houses that screen it probably already get its timely message, while the Middle Americans who need to watch "Bowling for Columbine" the most, are penned in their dens absorbing the latest fear on CNN. All I can say is I hope this message gets to them - Unlock your doors, leave the your house, and go out and see this movie.
For Movie Magazine this is Purple.
© 2002 - Purple - Air Date: 10/16/02
More Information:
Bowling for Columbine
USA / Canada - 2002
