In the documentary "Bowling for Columbine", the incendiary filmmaker Michael Moore tackles the issue of guns, and America's obsession with them. Through shocking images, amusing interactions, and a thorough amount of awkwardness, Moore reels the audience in.
The documentary is an ironic look at our culture, and how America seems to have an obsession with guns. He uses his voice at a monotone so that the shocking images of live television broadcasts showing shootings and suicides and the frankly jarring ideas and beliefs passing over his voiceover are that much more persuasive. He manages to still keep us interested, both horrified and transfixed on this problem.
Moore also makes use of interactions with people to prove his point. At one part of the documentary, he visits Canada to talk with people about the gun problem in America. Many of the people he interviewed were relaxed and calm. I was especially surprised when Moore simply opened people's doors in broad daylight and the people who owned the houses just took it in stride. Contrasting that to America, Moore paints a very different picture. Here, we lock our doors, we lock our cars, we buy guns for protection, etc. We're afraid, essentially.
It also helps when Moore points out that the gun related deaths for the US in one year is 11,127, whereas in Canada, it's 165. And that's not even the lowest. Another talking head said that if more guns equal more safety, then America should be the safest country in the world. Obviously, it isn't.
One thing of this documentary that I didn't so much like, was the fact that the interviews were so awkward. If you know me, you know I can't stand those awkward cringe moments in movies or TV. If I can, I will make an excuse (a bad one) to get out of the room until the scene goes away. Obviously, I couldn't do that in a school setting. But I'm not saying that those scenes were bad for the message he brought across, they just were unsettling, particularly his interview with Charlton Heston. Regardless, it proved his point.
Flashing images, a few chuckle-worthy lines, and cringe-worthy talking heads may not sound like they'd add up to a great documentary. However, Michael Moore pulls it off, entertaining many while bringing up a surprising amount of questions on how we look at our culture of fear. Now the question remains: what do we do with these questions?
I agree with your feelings on the cringe worthy moments. Do you think he did that on purpose so we would dislike the people he was interviewing? Or do you think that these people just weren't very good at presenting a good part of themselves to the camera?
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