Film Reviews

Bowling for Columbine

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Charlton Heston
• Details: US / 125 minutes / (15PG).

Already the recipient of hefty critical praise and a special anniversary prize at this year's Cannes film festival, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine attempts to make sense of America's obsession with guns, and ultimately, violence. The title, of course, stems from the 1999 massacre at the Columbine high school where two students murdered 12 classmates and a teacher, and provides the basis for the author to offer his deliberations on the state of America. These deliberations take him to places as diverse as Canada; his home town of Flint, Michigan and the house of Charlton Heston, as he questions the morality and mentality of the American public and the media.
As this is a Michael Moore film, a crusading sense of injustice under towed by the director's own monstrous ego drives the proceedings. His heart is in roughly the right place, but his reasoning is somewhat skewered and Moore has a nasty habit of scapegoating (as evidenced in his pious mauling of a pathetic Charlton Heston). Even if you don't agree with what Moore says or does (his pop sociology and potted history of America can mercifully be described as one-dimensional), he is indisputably entertaining viewing, skirting between subjects. He might not have any interest in answers, but at least he's asking some of the right questions.

Review by Garreth Murphy