Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore (Review)

I just got back from seeing Bowling For Columbine, which I highly recommend checking out if you haven’t already. It’s certainly an eye-opening and very disturbing look at our nation, the violent culture that our media creates and spreads, and the haunting notion that our free society might be more limited than most think.

There were times where I was laughing my butt off at people’s obvious naiveté, only to shake my head in disbelief at what the citizens of this country have done and have allowed to let slip over their eyes.

Why does violent crime soar in this country when other countries have the same violent music, movies, and video games that we do, and yet not suffer the same tragedies we do? Why do we feel the need to sell ammo at Walmart, build fences around our neighborhoods, and continue government programs that tear communities apart with little benefit to those they’re supposed to help? Other countries have similarly violent, blood-soaked histories, and yet why do we seem intent on continuing the violence and bloodshed, be it in our cities or across the ocean?

Thankfully, Michael Moore doesn’t try to answer them all, though he makes some pretty pointed suggestions. Some of them reach a bit, but others hit a little too close for comfort. I left the film wondering to what point is my culture’s violence ingrained in my psyche. I’m aghast at some of people in this film, but really, how different from them am I really? That’s probably the scariest question of all. I don’t like to think of the effect that culture and media have had on me, but I know that it has.

You could accuse Moore of being pedantic, manipulative even. He definitely has an agenda with this movie, but standing beside that agenda is a conscience, and I can live with that. And even if you’re completely opposed to Moore’s liberal agenda, I doubt you can watch this movie and not wonder about the direction this country is headed.