Bowling for Columbine (2002)

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Upon my initial viewing of this film I have to say I really enjoyed it. It made me both angry and at other times I found it quite funny. I really took it and its message at face value. However, afterwords I did some homework into some of the information it shared and it does appear that the director distorted and manipulated some of the events and information to provide a greater emotional impact with the audience. I was disappointed to discover this, in part because as a documentary work of art that should not happen, and secondly I don't think he really needed to do that to affectively get the message across. Nevertheless, I still think it is a film worth seeing and in many ways does still accurately portray our nations many issues with guns.

Moore's Bowling for Columbine has been repeatedly toted as "one of the greatest documentaries ever made" as well as the most "important", and while I agree with the latter of those two, the film rarely attempts to answer all the questions it raises.The subject that the film covers is undeniably important and I respect Moore for pursuing answers to the immensely broad and complicated issue, even if it seems awfully hard for him to make his point clear. The film as a whole was certainly entertaining and amusingly funny, however I often found myself wondering when Moore was going to get to the point. In addition, Moore's methods are quite questionable. He constantly attempts to make people look bad, and while it's deserving for some, it seems like unfair harping for others. The questions he raised provoked my thought on many occasions, but he only sometimes provided satisfying follow-up. Bowling for Columbine was a regularly thought-provoking and often entertaining piece of satire that rarely managed to achieve the political potency it was so obviously aiming for. It was hard to tell when Moore was serious as his political and social antics usually felt unjustified or poorly thought out. Maybe I just don't get Moore's style of filmmaking, as this was my first time seeing his work, but the content displayed here would've been much more suited for a web-video than a feature-length film. Moore is determined to convince the public of the severity of this issue, yet won't take the time to share his message in a gratifying or cohesive manner.

I'm generally an admirer of Michael Moore's work, but his film-making IQ was at a low ebb when he did Bowling for Columbine. I'm not going to spend too long expressing my disgust with Moor'e sleazy "got-ya" attack on Charleston Heston; by posing as an NRA member he cynically took and advantage of an aging man's mental confusion as Heston succumbed to Alzheimer's disease. Moore creates ridiculous fantasies, as he suggests Canadians don't bother to lock their doors at night (if Moore seriously believes that break-ins and burglaries don't occur often in Canada, he should try living in Vancouver's DTES or the North End of Winnipeg. Another ridiculous assumption is that Canada is not a nation of gun owners.Instead of doing such ridiculous comparisons of the US with Canada Moore should have chosen Japan as his field of study. Japan has the lowest rate of gun crime in the world. In 2014 there were just six gun deaths, compared to 33,599 in the US. What is the secret? If a Japanese wants to buy a gun in Japan the applicant must attend an all-day class, take a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%. The applicant must also undergo mental health and drugs tests, a criminal record check and police will look for links to extremist groups. Then authorities check the applicant's relatives and work colleagues too. And as well as having the power to deny gun licenses, police also have sweeping powers to search and seize weapons. That's not all. Handguns are banned outright. Only shotguns and air rifles are allowed. In most of Japan's 40 or so prefectures there can be no more than three gun shops, and Japanese gun owners can only buy fresh cartridges by returning the spent cartridges from their previous visit. THAT's why Japan has near zero gun crime. Japanese culture is at the apex of human civilization, and they wisely shield their society from the influx of riff-raff from less enlightened parts of the world.

It was a very impressive movie. It is good point that this movie focused on American gun society. Gun in America become very important problem now, but considering in the fact that when this movie was made is 2002, Moor's point of view is very appreciated. In addition, this movie searches about the problem of gun deeper and explains the problem comprehensibly. (ex. The history of America) The latter is very important for foreigners to watch such documentaries as this. At the latter of this movie, they succeeded something big. It was very important change in America and this succession is the result of this movie. It was awesome. (Of course, those who support gun society didn't think so.) But one point that I was disappointed is this movie is too long. I think this movie can be made in less time. Longer the movie is, more boring we are because density of movie become less. This point is unique to documentary movie. Particularly for me, who watch many movies and American dramas, documentaries are boring as a whole. For the documentary, whose theme is belonging to the real world, it can't be helped. But this documentary is more interesting than other documentaries.