Movie Review: Bowling For Columbine

I have seen this movie many times and saw it once again in my film criticism class. I wrote the following paper on it. Enjoy.....

Bowling For Columbine (released in 2002) is Michael Moore's fourth film and argueably his best. Moore's debut full length documentary, Roger & Me, was a breakthrough for Moore and the genre. Moore's follow up film, The Big One, pushed the amount of political humor even further than his last documentary in a way reminescent of Robert Downey Jr's The Last Party. None of these films, however, hit America quite as hard as Bowling For Columbine.
Depending on who you ask, the purpose of the film varies. I believe that Moore didn't intend to make a movie with a clear purpose (such as his later Fahreinheit 911) that the audience can strongly feel for. He simply stuck to a theme and let his viewers interpret it on their own. The theme? Guns and fear in America. The vagueness of the overall solution (or even problem) was quite a switch from Barry Glassner's "Culture of Fear", from which Moore largely took the basis of his theme. Glassner focused on a broad array of American fears while Moore decided to focus primarily on guns. "Culture of Fear" had an obvious antagonist: the mainstream media. Bowling For Columbine only hinted at this. Forcing the audience to contemplate a rarely thought of social problem without giving them a definate answer is the best route Moore could have taken to get America's collective brain ticking.
However, the movie doesn't go without faults. I found the "short history of America" out of place and somewhat annoying. Not to mention it's over-simplification and inaccuracies. Which brings me to the subject of the movie's bias. In any documentary you will find a clear bias, but typically the film should try and address the other side's views (even if it's only to rebuke them). True, Moore did interview the producer of "Cops" and a bewildered Charleton Heston, but overall I felt that the movie lacked enough of the "debate" aspect.
Putting aside the movie's minor flaws we can focus on some of the more sucessfull scenes the movie carried. My personal favorite was the montage of America's less popularized (to say the least) legacy of horrific clandestine operations from the assasination and overthrow of Chile's democratically elected president to the havoc created by the Contras of Nicuragua. Another big winner was the opening scene in which Moore recieves a free rifle... from a bank.
Bowling For Columbine recieved much acclaim. And it deserved it. Moore's humor and ideas articulate onto the screen to create a truely rewarding viewing. This is a movie that everyone should see.
Four 1/2 stars.