[Drew]

This guy seems to spark a lot of debate, so I thought maybe it could be compacted into one thread about all his movies. I just read this guy's thoughts on Michael Moore, thought they were pretty good. I personally hate Michael Moore with an intense passion.

[quote:d63de]I just got finished watching Bowling for Columbine. I rented it because I wanted to get some kind of introduction to Michael Moore’s “documentary” (and I use that word loosely) works before seeing Fahrenheit 9/11, and I figured what better way than to rent a copy of this Oscar winning piece.

After having taken in the entire movie, two things strike me immediately:

1) Don’t ever piss off or otherwise disagree with Moore – because he’ll spend the better part of a year making a film wherein you’ll wind up seeming to be the most profound idiot known to man, and quite possibly the underlying cause for all the fear, death, depravity, and destruction in the world.

The first act of the movie is basically Moore introducing the viewer to the variety of people that have been produced as a result of the area of Michigan from which he himself hails. Coincidentally, one of the kids who took part in the attack on Columbine (I forget which one) was from this area, as were the Nichols brothers who were linked to the Oklahoma City bombing. What’s most noticeable about this portion of the film is that Moore vividly paints these individuals he encounters – whether they be members of the Michigan Militia, the Nichols brother who was cleared of any wrong-doing, or the apparent average Joe having a few cold ones while shooting pool – as being of the dim witted variety who probably don’t know any better than to associate themselves with what they have. This may be truth in advertising; it may be talent in editing. Either way, Moore’s established his basis for comparison, and made for a bit of comedy relief in the process.

On the flip side of this, you have the latter act of the film wherein the director hones in on celebrities who have apparently aligned themselves with organizations that are in some way responsible for the Columbine massacre. Say what you will about Moore and his brash nature of pursuing the argument; there’s something oddly entertaining about watching celebrities squirm when confronted by a portly, unshaven, pasty-white man with a film crew. God, I would have hated to have been Dick Clark or Charlton Heston during those moments that are captured for the segments of this film when Moore sets his sights on them. Granted, they both seemed to be rather unprepared to face Moore, and he had an obvious edge in the blunt nature of the situation. Nevertheless, Heston in particular should’ve seen this coming from as far away as his best hunting scope would allow. (I give Dick the benefit of the doubt since he was practically ambushed by Moore outside of his production offices.) I don’t think the man could have made himself look any worse – unless, of course, he had pulled out a nickel-plated .45, pistol whipped Moore, then broke his hip after falling down the stairs in an attempt to run away.

I like Heston, but that would be hilariously bad; Alzheimer’s or no.

2) It’s very interesting to watch almost two and a half hours of theories and commentary on the status of our nation – most of which deals with the preconceptions (or perhaps misconceptions) of society that have been generated by our national history, news media, corporate America, the National Rifle Association, and other factors – and to expect some sort of grand solution to be presented in the end, only to be left with a pile of questions and a whole lot of pointing fingers.

A bulk of the final acts are centered around apparent false notions in regard to why there are so many deaths in America (as compared to other nations – namely Canada) as a result of violence involving guns, as well as a detailed debunking of popular explanations. Moore does well in this effort as he brings to the surface quite a few bits of factual information that would leave one to believe our nation is a culture finding comfort in the warmth of a freshly fired gun due to a feeling of peril generated by the media, whereas other countries are still as saturated with weapons as we but have the decency not to go about glamorizing the worst aspects of human nature every day via the images piped in through our television sets. (The spot where Moore confronts a producer for the show COPS was quite rousing.) He attempts to examine the widespread usage and ownership (legal or illegal) of firearms from a racial point of view, as well, with a geography lesson ultimately working hand in hand with cultural studies.

I was surprised to discover that I actually agree with Moore on a number of points (what with my views generally being that of a conservative and his being that of an “aging, hippie, liberal douche” – I’ve been dying to use that line ever since I first heard it on SOUTH PARK), the most predominant of which being his stance on how the news media of this country creates an aura of fear that permeates the very essence of our being. I’ve said it on many occasions that the reason why I refuse to watch the evening news is because of the fact that I feel the need to request a prescription for Prozac afterwards, what with the constant barrage of horrible things that these people have no difficulty getting pictures of and no issues with throwing before our very eyes. The idea that Moore and Marilyn Manson throw around regarding this fear being the driving force behind consumption (of the economic variety) is cleverly accurate, and one that I hadn’t considered previously.

And this is the genius of the piece – it may be unsuccessful in swaying people of one persuasion over to the other side of the fence, but it is incredibly successful at stimulating discussion about the topics at hand. I haven’t actually spoken to anyone about it yet, but just considering the piece as I sit here writing this is making me dedicate some serious thought to what I’ve seen and heard. Unfortunately, since this film is most definitely that of the op-ed variety (I never could quite get over how Moore several times makes reference to Bowling for Columbine as a, “documentary”), the discussion that ensues may or may not be constructive seeing as how I’d imagine such a debate would quickly dissolve into a heated argument yielding little to no beneficial results.

It’s kind of odd that I made use of the phrase, “no beneficial results”, in that last paragraph, considering this is exactly what viewers are left with. No, I didn’t honestly expect Moore to bestow upon us some kind of world-altering solution to the issues he presents – although the man did manage to get K-Mart to stop selling ammunition (albeit by parading two injured survivors of the Columbine massacre through the company’s corporate headquarters), which was an impressive feat to say the least. He’s able to superbly craft a linear path from cause to effect, and back again if need be, but I don’t believe he nor does anyone else alive today have the answers for the questions he’s posed.

That being said, I’m left to wonder: Why bother asking the questions when it’s obvious that there’s not much likelihood of determining any answers? Truth be told, while Moore reveals a wealth of knowledge pertaining to his particular point of view on these matters, he doesn’t do much in the way of stating anything that hasn’t been said before. What he does is lay blame on the usual suspects – those being corporations, the government (and not only Republicans as he takes several stabs at Clinton for the bombings in Kosovo), the National Rifle Association (an organization of which he’s apparently a member), and the media. The arguments made against these entities are valid to an extent, but I don’t know that any of them would have received quite the lashing they’ve gotten had Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold been brought to justice as opposed to taking their own lives. It’s this lack of closure that I think has given him the ability to make the film and to have it be heralded as an Oscar-worthy item.

Would I recommend this film? Maybe, if you haven’t seen it by now and are by chance looking for something to watch that’s more meaningful than a majority of what’s on TV right now? I’d rent it, however, as I don’t see the grand nature of owning a copy. I figure once I’ve seen Fahrenheit 9/11 I’ll follow up on this with my thoughts of that one. [/quote:d63de]