Front Page > Issues > 2002 > December

Michael Moore bowls 300 with Columbine

There’s no question that Michael Moore is, if not a national treasure, a priceless resource within our progressive community. He is the sad sack figure who bests snide CEOs and preening politicians, armed only with a camera and a self-effacing manner that cloaks a razor sharp wit. It is hard to find a progressive who doesn’t take heart from Moore’s crusade to make the powerful look foolish.

But Moore’s success with this genre was also threatening to turn him into some kind of lefty Mike Wallace, whose attacks on the powers that be, while still amusing, slides more into show business and away from advocacy journalism.

With Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore lays such concerns to rest. This is Moore’s best work, surpassing the punch and political analysis of Roger and Me, while still maintaining that link he, but so few other leftists, can maintain with their audience (Here’s a hint — Moore respects working people, warts and all, including their intelligence).

Columbine is a complex meditation on the violent soul of this nation. Starting with one of the more shocking acts of violence in recent time — the student shootings at Littleton, CO’s Columbine High School — Moore takes viewers down the rabbit hole to meet a wild cast of characters that includes an insightful Marilyn Manson, a confused and racist Charleton Heston, an extremely unpleasant Dick Clark, a confused cop pondering the possibility of arresting a gun-toting dog, and scores of Canadians so sane that you want to emigrate as soon as you leave the theater. Along the way, Moore shatters nearly every myth we’ve been taught about violence and guns. For example:

• Gun ownership is far higher in Canada than the U.S., but annual gun-related deaths in Canada are less than 400 while over 11,000 Americans die from guns each year.

• The Japanese consume far more violent entertainment (movies, video games, etc.) than Americans, yet violent crime in Japan is far less prevalent than in the good old U.S.A.

Moore offers other proof that we’ve been looking at the wrong culprits when we try to tackle violence in the U.S. It’s not television, rock-and-roll or the presence of too many guns. As Moore persuasively argues, it is fear that has made us the violent people we’ve become.

Why are the residents of the most powerful nation on earth fearful? That’s where Moore weaves a fascinating and at times hilarious while at other times horrifying story answering that question.

In one of the funniest segments of the film, Moore turns to the creators of the animated series South Park to provide a brief history of the conquest of America by very fearful but well-armed white people. Interesting historical facts presented in this tale include the arrival of Samuel Colt’s mass-produced revolver just when nervous and outnumbered whites found themselves having a hard time suppressing slave revolts. Then there’s the simultaneous rise of the KKK and the National Rifle Association.

Moore also doesn’t hesitate to call on darker arguments to explain our fear. A grim list of U.S. interventions around the world, accompanied by images of the death and destruction we caused in each case, provides a powerful case for why we should fear most the world. But our fear, Moore argues, has a purpose. As Marilyn Manson informs Moore, while fundamental Christians protest his concert outside, fear prompts us to consume. By keeping us fearful, the elites also keep us consuming — seeking out a security blanket made of SUVs, cell phones, palm pilots, big houses, and of course, guns. Moore doesn’t stop there. He goes on to connect the dots between school shootings, workfare, corporate welfare, the military-industrial complex, and Bush’s never-ending war on terrorism.

Columbine not only looks at our fear, it also shows us what life is like without that fear. Moore visits Windsor, across the border from Detroit, interviewing dozens of Canadians about their own fear, how they deal with it, and what they think of their fearful neighbors to the south. The fact that so many Canadians don’t lock their doors — a fact Moore verifies by randomly opening front doors in a quiet Windsor neighborhood — speaks volumes to a people who think three locks on a door is normal.

Anyone who wants to understand why Americans are so violent or who simply wants to watch a masterful journalist at work should go see Bowling for Columbine. Moore delivers on all fronts — humor, moral outrage and a range of other emotions. He does so, furthermore with a finesse few others can pull off.

Dave Mazza is editor of The Portland Alliance