Bowling For Columbine (2002)

Average rating

(75%)

Starring:	Michael Moore
Director:	Michael Moore
Studio:	MOMENTUM PICTURES
Genres:	Documentary
Languages:	English
Hearing-impaired:	English
Released:	May 12, 2003
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Filmmaker and leftist activist Michael Moore asks some serious questions as he probes the depths of America's trigger-happy gun culture in the insightful and amusing documentary, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. Guns in America are used to kill an average of more than 11,000 people per year. This death toll is obscenely out of balance with other first world countries, which generally average a total in double digits. Experts and analysts have pointed to America's bloody history as a reason, but how does that explain the lower murder rate in Germany

Rating of 5 stars out of 5

In his 1989 debut Roger & Me, “people's film-maker” Michael Moore went after the CEO of General Motors. Here, his quest is much broader: what actually causes America's alarming gun-related annual death toll? Whether opening a bank account that comes with a free rifle or harassing retail giant K-Mart to persuade them to stop selling the type of bullets used at the 1999 Columbine school massacre, Moore leaves no stone unturned, addressing issues such as foreign policy, race, welfare and the post-11 September climate of fear. Shifting with surprising ease between humour and pathos, this is an important, outspoken film, if not an easy one to watch. Moore's confrontation with National Rifle Association president Charlton Heston proves especially uncomfortable, but, at a time when Moore could be branded “unpatriotic” for his views, here is a rousing film that urges you think about what patriotism really means. This is a rare dispatch from the America that the US's own media seems reluctant to acknowledge.

Rating of 3 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Haphazard documentary that goes off in different directions and doesn't always follow through on the matters it raises; but the matters it does raise are important and receive a airing that is at once funny and angry.

Highest rated reviews

33 out of 39 people found the following review helpful:

Good man, Moore

A Customer from London, 20th September, 2003

Michael Moore is a brave man ? he worries about what a lot of us worry about, but actually has the courage to write or make films about it all. This is an extremely effective, if not rambling film that asks the question `Is America a nation of gun nuts, or are they just nuts?' Director Michael Moore uses the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado as a jumping off point, then takes us on a journey that includes stops in Michigan, where it seems everyone owns a gun, a sit-in at K-Mart's corporate headquarters and an amusing side trip to Moore's idealized Canada.
The movie is all over the place, and offers very few answers to the questions it raises, but I think it was Moore's strategy to present the facts and figures and get people thinking for themselves. Moore's everyman appearance is put to good use in the film's most effective scene. He talks his way into gun-nut Charlton Heston's Hollywood hills home for an interview, claiming to be a member of the NRA. Once inside he gradually warms Heston up before asking the hard questions about the consequences of living in a heavily armed society. Heston stiffens, ends the interview and walks away. Moore's camera follows him as he shuffles down a long hall. The Grand Wizard of the NRA is revealed for what he is, an old man, not the Moses of the gun movement. It's impressive footage that caps a film full of powerful images and ideas.

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14 out of 14 people found the following review helpful:

Unforgettable

Andrew from London, 20th February, 2004

Everyone should sit down and watch this documentary. Period.
Michael Moore asks the questions that the media doesnt want to ask, of the people that dont want to be asked them. He doesnt always get answers, but often the reactions he gets speak volumes in themselves. This is the side of the American lifestyle we all knew existed, but the evening news anchor has never wanted to show us. Want to know why kids in American schools are shooting each other? this may not give you all the answers, but it will certainly give plenty of food for thought as well as point the blame in all the right directions. A must-see movie.. even more so for the sceptics.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

So why do American's shoot each other?

A Customer from Yorkshire, 21st April, 2004

This documentary is truely inspired, Michael Moore pull's no punches and quite obviously feel's very deeply about this subject.
The film is set around the columbine massacre and the other gun related tragedy's in that area of America. He strive's for an answer to why the gun murders in America are so high, and unfortunately never seems to get one. But leaving that to one side, he may never come up with a complete answer, but he does help to dispell some of the frankly stupid myths that are blamed for the violence. TV, Music, video games and Cartoon's being some of them.
He comes up with a real reason for the problems, and it strikes right into the heart of the good ol US of A.
This film is a must watch, it deserves every inch of its praise. It show's America's love of wealth and fame, and how its quick to brush problems like poverty, under the carpet. Some of the infomation thats given is truely shocking, how the government got away with some of the thing's it did is unbelievable.
Take a look, and make sure you don't miss the very funny cartoon by the southpark creator's, and the interview with charlton heston

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