Even if you do not agree with Michael Moore’s politics and films, there has to be some admiration for his way of achieving what he wants to achieve. Moore is seemingly fearless in his mission to pursue and reveal all the corruption and wrongdoing that is going on in America and around the world.
Some of his films could qualify as left-wing rants, but every wing should take heed and watch “Bowling For Columbine,” the Memorial Union’s film of the week.
Named after the activity in which Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold participated, before starting the Columbine massacre, this movie is more of a series of extended question posed to the audience.
If we are such a civilized and humane country, why do we have the highest murder rate by handguns? Why are countries like Great Britain and Japan slipping by with few to no handgun deaths while in America our numbers are in the thousands?
While pursuing these questions, Moore takes many stops along his way to reveal the gun culture in America. Walking into an average bank, Moore opens an account and in return receives a brand-spanking-new rifle. This giveaway at the bank, which is also a legal firearms distributor, has Moore relishing the irony that the bank is giving away guns in the one place guns should not be given.
Then there are the promotional videos for Lockheed-Martin, one of the largest producers of weapons in the world (the company is now apparently helping run welfare systems), which have the audience staring in disbelief and wondering would actually believe the videos’ sincerity.
In interviews galore, Moore talks to everyone from barbers who also sell ammo to Moses himself, Charleton Heston. Moore ambushes Heston, who is the current president of the National Rifle Association, when he finds the star’s house by using a “map of the stars” he bought on the sidewalk.
When interviewed, Heston looks clearly flustered at the hard questions Moore poses to him about the philosophy of the NRA and the deaths caused by gun violence.
The audience sits in silence during the montage of American atrocities abroad, laughs at the promotional videos of various gun-promoting companies and towns, and even gets a little tense when James Nichols takes Moore into his bedroom for his own display of ignorance.
It makes the audience wonder, but more importantly helps open people’s eyes to an America that seems to thrive on the misery and fear of others.
Films can be made for fodder, a simple two-hour excursion that takes your mind off the exams and the drinking to come. Important films are the ones that make you think about the state of our union long after the doors open and the light floods through.
Not concerned with making audience members comfortable or light on their toes, Moore has put together one of the most important documentaries ever made — if not for its portrayal of a country going down the tubes in a hail of gunfire but rather of a man just trying to show the country he loves so much what is going on.
“Bowling for Columbine” plays all weekend in the Fredric March Play Circle at Memorial Union. Showtimes are Friday at 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and midnight and Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. and 9:30. Prices are $3 with a student ID and $4 without a student ID.
