Review of Bowling For Columbine

1. Bowling For Columbine
Film Review
Jill Margerison

2. A dramatic examination of America’s gun usage
Does America have a violent soul?

3. Reviewing this movie?
• Moore informing, entertaining or persuading?
• Key elements for analysis:
• Camera angles, editing, special effects, dialogue,
setting, music
Ever thought
about
Michael
Moore’s
directorial
choice to dress
the way he does
and seeks street
interviews with
the public?

4. “Happiness is a
Warm Gun.”..
Germany- 381
France- 255
Canada- 165
The United Kingdom- 68
Japan - 39
America- 11,127
“Do you think it is a
little dangerous
handing out guns at
a bank?”
“The gun, not the
eagle is our true
national symbol.”..

5. "What A Wonderful World"
Selected for controversial montage.
• 1954: over 200K Guatemalans
killed when U.S. overthrows
democratically-elected President
Arbenz
• 1963: U.S. backs assassination
of South Vietnamese President
Diem.
• 1963-1975: American military
kills 4 million people in Southeast
Asia.
• September 11, 1973: U.S. stages
coup in Chile. Democratically-elected
President Salvador
Allende assassinated. Dictator
Augusto Pinochet installed. 5,000
Chileans murdered.

6. US Imperial Expansion?
• 1977: U.S. backs El Salvador military junta. 70K
Salvadorans killed.
• 1980s: U.S. trains Osama bin Laden and fellow
terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA contributes $3
billion
• 1981: Reagan administration trains & funds
Contras. 30K Nicaraguans die.
• 1982: U.S. provides billions of dollars in aid to
Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians.
• 1983: The White House secretly gives Iran
weapons to kill Iraqis.
• 1989: CIA agent Manuel Noriega (also serving
as President of Panama) disobeys orders from
Washington. U.S. invades Panama and
removes Noriega. 3,000 Panamanian civilian
casualties.
• 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from
U.S.
• 1991: U.S. enters Iraq. Bush reinstates dictator
of Kuwait.
• 1998: Clinton bombs possible weapons factory
in Sudan. Factory turns out to be making aspirin.
1991-?: American planes bomb Iraq
on a weekly basis. U.N. estimates
500,000 Iraqi children die from
bombing and sanctions.
2000-2001: U.S. gives Taliban-ruled
Afghanistan $245 million in aid.
Sept. 11, 2001: Osama bin Laden
uses his expert CIA training to murder
3,000 people.

7. Tuesday, April 20th, 1999
"You all better hide in your
houses because I'm
coming for EVERYONE
soon, and I WILL be armed
to the teeth and I WILL
shoot to kill and I WILL
KILL EVERYTHING!“
- Eric Harris, Journal Entry
Columbine High School, Jefferson County, Colorado

8. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold actions resulted in
15 dead and 23 injured.
The shooters bought their ammunition at Kmart in
Troy, Michigan

9. Is Moore on a mission to discover
the truth? Did he arm with a
camera to spark change?
It appears to be a ‘David and
Goliath’ like battle. Why?

10. Do you believe American’s thrive on the power of a gun?
It can be argued that Moore takes on the
corporate ‘big guns’.
Who are the corporate ‘big guns’?

12. Do you believe that
Moore succeeded?
Controversial?
Informative
Intriguing
Is Moore approachable?
Is the media a powerful ally?
Does Moore pull a powerful marketing stunt?
Is Moore’s mission a futile one?
Does Bowling for Columbine make you think?

13. Moore’s Impossible Mission?
• Armed with a camera
and a documentary
budget of 4 million
dollars, Moore is
determined to discover
the root cause of
America’s obsession
with the gun.