Bowling for Columbine

AroView: Essential viewing from director Michael Moore (FAHRENHEIT ⁹⁄₁₁), constructing an entertaining and devastating critique of the contradictions of the US of A, here taking ‘gun culture’ in his sights.

Using the massacre at Columbine High School as its central example of America’s gun fascination gone horribly but logically awry, Moore elicits a broad range of comments, explanations and testimonies from students, teachers, commentators, arms manufacturers and NRA lobbyists like Charlton Heston. While firmly on the side of disarmament, the emotional dismay aroused by Columbine and other killings give the film an intensity and pertinence that led to it becoming a surprise box-office hit (at the time, the most financially successful documentary ever made).

Using his own humourous personality to brighten his interviews or lay ambushes for the unsuspecting, Moore offers and dissects various theories on the subject, some thoughtful, some grimly amusing, some perhaps too pat – finally it is his angry bafflement that speaks most eloquently.