Michael Moore should certainly be commended for confronting the extremely important American topic of gun control and he approaches his subject with enough gravity to empower his trademark literal humor. But Moore also approaches his subject with a chip on his shoulder and much of “Bowling For Columbine” is determined to aggressively portray a country alone in its wrong-headedness, as compared to the rest of the world; it’s as if the current state of global affairs is America’s fault—our bloodlust begins, Moore claims, with the Commander-In-Chief—while the violent tendencies in other countries have been quelled. Unfortunately, Moore makes his argument seem spurious by not offering to substantiate his facts (when listing the number of deaths by shooting per year in various countries—in order to show America’s overwhelming leadership in this category—he fails to identify specific years) and his relentless stock-in-trade of ambushing his subjects seems self-serving and less a product of journalistic intent than the rant of a deeply unhappy attention-grabber. The ironic thing is that when Moore finally effects social change (K-mart decides to discontinue gun sales after he and two Columbine victims protest to management) he seems genuinely non-plussed, as if being co-opted into giving up his contrarian attitude. (This forces him to go even harder at a deserving N.R.A. President Charlton Heston.) Moore is at his best when he exposes television news’ exploitation of society’s fears (the grab for viewers requires shock reporting) and he’s extremely effective in pointing out that black males are consistently singled out as criminal scapegoats. But he carries his points to such an extreme measure (an animated segment paints a simplistically misanthropic history of the United States, filled with the alarming vitriol usually dished by the Far Right) that you find yourself deflecting the anger and hostility while trying to concentrate on the core arguments. Well-worth seeing but not without some apprehension.
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