Film Flashback Review: Bowling for Columbine

Bel reflects on this powerful documentary.

I have my own personal thoughts on the gun laws in the USA, so watching this one brought up a lot of emotion, made my mind boggle and my stomach churn. Michael Moore takes a look at the gun culture in the US, with a focus on the Columbine school shooting and the Buell Elementary school shooting.

There are extremely graphic scenes of people being shot, shooting themselves and the remains of those who were shot. It is not at all comforting. Nor should it ever be.

The emergency calls from those within the Columbine school are horrific, the desperate pleas from parents asking for information on their kids, and the media vultures wanting to be patched through for live on air information.

He interviews one of the creators of South Park,Matt Stone, who shone a light on the internal stresses on students. I have to agree there was unnecessary stress put on students to achieve. The focus was less on their personal well being and more on their academic or sporting prowess — the fear of the unknown beyond high school, and how that may have lead to the school shooting.

Marilyn Manson was given his chance to comment, and though I’m not a fan of his music, he spoke sense. He said that perhaps people were not listening to them, or listening to the people who may have been able to signal any problems.

Moore takes a look at the differences between Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and the US, and asks the question ‘Why there is so many gun related deaths in the US?’

The jewel in the crown would have to be the interview with Charlton Heston the leader of the NRA (National Rifle Association). This man showed up after both of these tragic shootings and rallied on his constitutional right to bear arms.

There have been over 20 gun-related mass shootings in the US since the release of Bowling for Columbine.  There is no question that changes need to be made; the difficulty is trying to get the change to happen.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this documentary if you’ve seen it.