BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE
Directed by Michael Moore; starring George W. Bush, Dick Clark, Charleton Heston, Marilyn Manson. Color, 120 minutes.

October 20th, The Charles Theatre's Cinema Sunday was unusually crowded. The reason was the opening of Michael Moore's new film, "Bowling for Columbine." This new film might very well be Moore's boldest and best work since "Roger and Me." While Moore touches on several serious issues throughout the film (including the history of U.S. military interventions abroad), the primary focus is on gun laws and corporate arms manufacturing. He even takes on the National Rifle Association (NRA) right up until the end with a not-so-well-received interview with NRA president, Charleton Heston.

The film begins with a Michael Moore-style investigation of what happened at Columbine. Thus, the opening scene is Moore opening a bank account in Minnesota--one where he can receive a free shotgun in addition to the account. As is the style of Michael Moore, the film is laden with illustrations of ridiculous information and individuals such as this. While touring Littleton, Colorado, Flint, Michigan, and other areas, Moore runs into a variety of institutions and characters: James McNichols, a man connected, but never convicted, of the Oklahoma City bombing; Lockheed Martin, the number one weapons manufacturer in the United States; NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command; and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Moore notes that no one seems to mind that the U.S. war machine is operating directly under everyone's noses. They even truck missiles to various deployment locations after the children of Columbine have gone to sleep.

So, Moore then asks the question of why our culture is so violent. He explores the media where he finds that while murder rates nation-wide are actually down 20%, the media coverage of violent crimes is up 600%. The answer seems clear. However, he looks at Canadian society, where there are 165 gun killings per year (as opposed to 11,127 in the U.S.), and discovers that the media and film there are just as violent as that of the U.S. Moore then decides that perhaps it is the incredible poverty in the U.S. that may be the root cause of our violent society. However, while in Canada, he discovers that the Canadian rate of unemployment is even higher than in the United States.

Moore, determined to answer his question "Are we a nation of gun nuts or just nuts?" continues throughout the film to look for explanations for our culture of violence. After a few of his theories fail, Moore visits the musician, Marilyn Manson. Manson, as the reader may recall, is a sub-culture figure who is often blamed for inspiring youth violence. There was special attention paid to Manson after the shootings at Columbine High School and many people from the right wing in this country protested his public appearances directly after the Columbine incident. During the conversation with Manson, the "shock rocker" (as much of the mainstream media refers to him) claimed that people were scared of him because he represents something different. He went on to say that those who should be held responsible--and those that should evoke fear in people--are the politicians who did nothing to prevent such an incident. Less attention (and money) could be paid to bombing Iraq, and more attention and money could be put towards the students and youth in this country and, we'd all be better off. Instead, Manson claimed, the media decided to blame him, a person who can only be blamed for subverting the dominant cultural paradigm.

This conversation seemed to strike quite a cord with Moore. Could the root of our violent culture stem simply from "our immense fear of ... everything?" The audience is then shown a montage of television news segments that seem to have no purpose but to evoke unnecessary fear in the public--killer bees from Mexico, the Bubonic Plague, etc. As he looks more closely at this society-wide fear, Moore even theorizes that the entire history of America is based on fear. He does so using a hilarious animated history of the United States. It begins by stating, "The Pilgrims came to America because they were afraid of being persecuted." With this basis, the animated account goes on to describe the genocide against the Indians, witch hunts, slavery, the NRA, the Ku Klux Klan, the white flight to the suburbs, and, of course, the crazed obsession with guns. According to Moore's version of U.S. history, all of these atrocities were simply based on our culture of fear.

Moore then goes deeper into this theory when speaking with Barry Glassner, author of the book, Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of the Wrong Things. Glassner shows Michael Moore around the lesser visited areas of Los Angeles--places where the LA riots took place--and explains to him that white America's fear of those who live in these areas (primarily African-Americans) is basically unfounded. At this point, Moore discovers the aforementioned statistic that violent crime has decreased 20% while the media coverage thereof has increased 600%. In yet another montage of television news media coverage, Moore shows the audience that one of our primary fears in America--one that drives many to purchase guns in the first place--is fear of the African-American male.

Americans are scared. Michael Moore shows his audience that we're so frightened of everything from Marilyn Manson to African-Americans to Saddam Hussein that our defense mechanism to cope with this fear is violence. "Bowling for Columbine" does a wonderful job of illustrating this for the viewers. Since making the film, Moore told The Guardian newspapaer, "Ultimately this film isn't about Columbine or even about guns. It's about our culture of fear and how that fear leads us to acts of violence, domestically and internationally."

While the film jumps around a bit, Moore easily makes the connection between the various issues he touches upon. He does so in the hilarious satirical fashion that can only come from Michael Moore. The film opened in Baltimore October 25th at the Charles Theatre and is still running. For times, go to www.thecharles.com/ .

For more information about the film or other things from Michael Moore, go to www.michaelmoore.com/ and www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/ .

If you're interested in the book, Culture of Fear, you can go to www.booksense.com/ a web site for independent book sellers.