Movie memories, by Siraj Syed—Bowling for Columbine (2002): Gun lobbies and gun hobbies

America has the highest rate of gun-related deaths and some critics of the gun culture refer to the gun lobby as gun nuts. Michael Moore (Fahrenheit 9/11) pegs this docu-feature as an investigative, analytical account of the Columbine school massacre and derives its title from the story that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold—the two students responsible for the Columbine High School massacre—attended a school bowling class, at 6:00 am on the day they committed the attacks at school, a few hours later. On April 20, 1999, two teens went on a shooting spree at Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 people and wounding more than 20 others, before killing themselves.

Bowling for Columbine includes Moore's discussions with various people: Matt Stone, the National Rifle Association's then-president Charlton Heston, and heavy metal musician Marilyn Manson. A number of startling statistics are used to convey that guns and bullets are easily available in America, Americans suffer from fear psychosis, nurture deep mistrust of blacks, and are trigger happy. Comparative figures from seven highly developed and ‘rich’ countries make startling reading.

Japan: 39 (0.030/per 100,000)

Australia: 65 (0.292/100,000)

United Kingdom: 68 (0.109/100,000)

Canada: 165 (0.484/100,000)

France: 255 (0.389/100,000)

Germany: 381 (0.466/100,000)

United States: 11,127 (3.601/100,000)

Americans could even get a gun as an incentive for opening a bank account and bullets were available off the shelf in K Mart, Michigan. President Bill Clinton ordered the bombing of Serbia a few hours after the Columbine incident. Incidentally, Canadians own more guns than Americans, but they have no fear of burglary and most of them do not lock their homes at night. Moore visits Canada and talks to several persons, including a Mayor, to provide contrast with the American infatuation with guns.

Director Moore is a life-member of the National Rifle Association, and uses this affiliation to get into the home of the then NRA President Charlton Heston (died 2008, aged 84), who is best remembered for the title role in Ben Hur and Moses in The Ten Commandments. Moore went to the same school as Heston. Heston held NRA rallies in at least two places immediately after the towns had witnessed gun-related deaths. Moore’s conversation with Heston is a coup of sorts, and I will not reveal what was said by either party, lest it becomes a spoiler.

Another unexpected development was the announcement on camera by a K Mart spokesperson that they would phase out the sale of bullets within 90 days. Moore had taken victims to the supermarket, including a wheel-chair bound paralytic, to make a case for the same, but even he had never imagined that the response would be so quick and so complete.

Other facts highlighted in the film detail America’s interference in other countries, including bombing and staging coup d’états, during 1953-2001. Particularly heart-rending is the tale of a black woman who has to travel 40 miles to and fro every day and work 14 hours/day in order to barely survive, leaving her young boy alone, to fend for himself. Despite all this effort, she is unable to pay her house rent, and is evicted. Racial stereo-typing is one of the themes of the film, which reminds the viewers that blacks are the first suspects when a crime is committed in the USA.

Among the encomiums it earned, Bowling for Columbine boasts of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, a special 55th Anniversary Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival (13-minute standing ovation), and the French César Award for Best Foreign Film. It earned a hefty profit as well, but Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 was to eclipse some of his own glory not much later. In the last 10 years, Moore (now 63) made Sicko (2007), Slacker Uprising (2008--a re-edited version of Captain Mike Across America, 2007), Capitalism: A Love Story (2009), Where to Invade Next (2015) and Michael Moore in TrumpLand (2016).

Documentaries of this nature require tons of research, loads of guts and reams of patience. Michael Moore, obviously, has them all. At 119 minutes, I am sure he has had to edit several hundred or thousand minutes to come up with two hours of riveting footage. Fahrenheit 9/11 is similarly timed, at 122 minutes.

Like the film says, if guns could counter crime, America would have the lowest number of homicides. Instead, the gun lobby and the practitioners of gun hobby watch on as even six year-olds go on shooting sprees. Some parts provide dark humour, others make you squirm in nervous anxiety, but the film is thoroughly watchable.

An eye opener for everyone, American or not.

(Reviewed from my DVD copy that has Fahrenheit 9/11 bundled on the same disc).

Rating: ****