Bowling for Columbine
List Price:
Our Price: $3.97
You Save: $11.01 (73%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Bill Clinton, Byron Dorgan, Dick Cheney, Dick Clark, Michael CaldwellBrand: MGM
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-19
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
DVD Reviews of Bowling for Columbine
DVD Review: "Bowling" Skews the Gun Argument
Summary: 3 Stars
Bowling for Columbine wasn't as overtly partisan as I expected it to be, but it definitely had points that Moore wanted to hammer home. The question he reverted to over and over in the film was, why is there so much gun violence in the US as opposed to other countries, and Canada was used as the main comparison. He doesn't really want to find out the answer, because he already has his own answer in mind and he constructs the film to fit around this view. Moore does an excellent job of playing Joe Schlub, walking around and gently prodding people to say what he wants them to say, all the while acting as if he's just Mike from down the street and is curious to find out about gun violence.
He interviews men from the Michigan Militia, James Nichols, and some guys in Oscoda, MI, where one of the Columbine shooters had spent some time. Of course these guys he interviews aren't exactly the smartest guys he can find, and Nichols comes off as a borderline wacko, but Moore paints them as the stereotypical gun owners. He devotes a section of the movie to Columbine and we see the distorted and out of context footage of Charleton Heston speaking at an NRA rally. When talking with Heston at the end of the movie, and at a couple other points, Moore takes care to mention that he is a card carrying member of the NRA, as if to prove to the viewer that he's not only impartial to the gun issue, but so distressed about it that he is more than willing to give the NRA a fair shake.
Halfway through the "documentary", there's a five minute cartoon depicting Moore's view of America's love affair with the gun, and his answer to the central question of the movie. Basically, Moore believes that white people have used the gun primarily to murder minorities and/or steal their land, and this connection between whites, minorities, and guns continues to this day. Although he never says this, the subcontext of the movie is that whites are the only ones in this country that are concerned about their 2nd Amendment rights, and whites in the suburbs are the vast majority of gun owners (which may be true) and that these whites own guns because they live in a constant state of fear, primarily of black people. Contrasting this with Canada, he interviews people there who say they have guns, then talks with law enforcement who have a hard time recalling any murders. One man he speaks to in Windsor says the last gun murder he can remember in Windsor was 15-20 years ago. He asks a half dozen Canadians if they lock their doors at night, and they answer that they don't, why would they? One guy admits to someone breaking into his house when he wasn't home, but he shrugs it off by saying the intruder merely took some alcohol and cigarettes. A woman says that one time she woke up and someone was in the house, but they didn't do anything and took off. This woman says she still doesn't lock her doors at night, then goes on to say that Americans grab a gun at the first sign of a disagreement, as if that were the natural thing for them to do. (I have a hard time believing that most Canadians have such a laissez faire attitude about home security.)
Then we have the trip to K-mart HQ with Moore bringing two of the victims of Columbine, one in a wheelchair, where he successfully got K-mart to stop selling handgun ammunition, as if that was the reason behind the shootings. Moore treats this as if it's going to save countless lives in the future.
Near the end of the movie, Moore explores the shooting of the 6 year old girl in Flint by the 6 year old black boy. This ends up being blamed on Michigan's welfare-to-work program because the boy's mother is forced to take a bus 40 miles each way from Flint to the Great Lakes Crossing mall in Auburn Hills for work. Moore states, and I'm paraphrasing, "She couldn't spend enough time with her children (apparently she had more than one kid) because she had to commute to work eighty miles round trip each day to make pastries for rich people" At the GLC mall, she worked at Dick Clark's restaurant, so using Michael Moore logic, he knows what he has to do is confront Dick Clark. Somehow he finds him (I'm assuming in L.A.) sitting in a minivan with a couple of other people getting ready to go somewhere, and he starts asking him about the girl who was shot in Flint, and how the shooter's mother was "forced" to work at his restaurant. How Dick Clark is culpable in this, I'm still trying to figure out. What Moore never mentions is the fact that when the boy's mother moved her son in with his brother, the brother was a drug dealer, and the boy found one of his guns.
At the end of the movie, Moore gets his interview with Charlton Heston. I thought Heston conducted himself with much dignity and class, despite apparently being in the early stages of Alzheimers, and considering his company. Moore asks him if he has guns in the house, Heston responds that he has loaded guns in the house, Moore asks why, and Heston responds because if he needs them they'll be ready, and that it's a right he's choosing to exercise. Moore asks him if he's ever had his house broken in before and Heston says no. (As if that's enough reason to debunk owning a gun) At the end of this exchange which Heston finally ends because he can wisely see that he and Moore are at odds with their views, Heston walks out and Moore follows, pulling out a picture of the 6 year old girl that was shot in Flint. It was quite a display of using someone else's tragedy to further their own agenda. Pretty sick. Moore left the picture propped up against Heston's house on his way out.
After seeing this, I could easily understand why the French gave Moore a ten minute standing ovation at one of their film awards ceremonies. The film depicted gun owning Americans as white, racist, ignorant, mentally deficient yahoos who live in fear, own multiple guns, and will pull them out at the least provocation to "protect their rights" from enemies real and perceived. Not ONCE does Moore talk about guns used by drug dealers, criminals, and other thugs in the commission of crimes. Nor the high incidence of black-on-black gun violence. And to think that Moore would actually give time to someone who saved their life or those of others by brandishing a firearm is laughable. Moore is very good at attempting to give his film some credence by making it appear he's taking an objective look at gun violence, he enables those viewers who don't know much about him and his left wing bent, to easily come around to his viewpoint. If I didn't know anything about the history of guns, or why the 2nd Amendment is so important, I imagine I could probably be persuaded after watching Bowling to think, hey, this guy's right, why are we so nuts about guns?
Description of Bowling for Columbine
Acclaimed filmmaker Michael Moore (Roger & Me) takes aim at America's love affair with guns and violence in this Oscar(r)-winning* film that "demands attention" (People)! Mixing riveting footage, hilarious animation and candid interviews with everyone from the NRA's Charlton Heston to shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, Bowling for Columbine is a "brilliant" (The Hollywood Reporter) tour de force of filmmaking. *2002: Documentary FeatureMichael Moore's superb documentary (following in the footsteps of Roger & Me and The Big One) tackles a meaty subject: gun control. Moore skillfully lays out arguments surrounding the issue and short-circuits them all, leaving one impossible question: why do Americans kill each other more often than people in any other democratic nation? Moore focuses his quest around the shootings at Columbine High School and the shooting of one 6-year-old by another near his own hometown of Flint, Michigan. By approaching the headquarters of K-Mart (where the Columbine shooters bought their ammo) and going to Charlton Heston's own home, Moore demands accountability from the forces that support unrestricted gun sales in the U.S. His arguments are conducted with the humor and empathy that have made Moore more than just a gadfly; he's become a genuine voice of reason in a world driven by fear and greed. --Bret Fetzer
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Food, Inc.Magnolia Films; Release date: 2009-11-03; DVD
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
ReligulousLIONS GATE HOME ENT.; Release date: 2009-02-17; DVD
Best price: $7.28
Price in other shops:
The Awful Truth - The Complete DVD Set (Seasons 1 & 2)New Video; Release date: 2003-04-29; DVD
Best price: $14.19
Price in other shops:
Super Size MeSony; Release date: 2004-09-28; Published: 2004; DVD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
An Inconvenient TruthPARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2006-11-21; DVD
Best price: $4.41
Price in other shops:
The Big OneBuena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2004-09-28; DVD
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops:
Roger & MeWarner Brothers; Release date: 2003-08-19; DVD
Best price: $10.94
Price in other shops:
Fahrenheit 9/ 11Genius; Release date: 2007-07-03; DVD
Best price: $4.69
Price in other shops:
Michael Moore - Capitalism: A Love StoryFox; Release date: 2010-03-09; DVD
Best price: $3.78
Price in other shops:
Sicko (Special Edition)Genius; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: