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Dom Robinson reviews
Momentum Pictures
- Cert:
- Cat.no: MP 291D
- Running time: 116 minutes
- Year: 2002
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 16 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Trailer, Intro, Michael Moore on his Oscar win and acceptance speech,Return to Denver/Littleton – 6 months after, Michael Moore interviewed byClinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, Michael Moore on The Charlie Rose Show,Music Video, Staff and Crew Photo Gallery, DVD-ROM extras
Director:
- Michael Moore
(The Big One, Bowling For Columbine, Canadian Bacon, Fahrenheit 9/11, Roger & Me, TV: The Awful Truth, TV Nation)
Producers:
- Charles Bishop, Jim Czarnecki, Michael Donovan, Kathleen Glynn & Michael Moore
Screenplay:
- Michael Moore
Music:
- Jeff Gibbs
Cast:
- Michael Moore, Charlton Heston, Matt Stone, Marilyn Manson, Tom Mauser, John Nichols
Sexy Girl with Gun: Denise Ames
Bowling For Columbine is a documentary thatperfectly gets across the point it’s trying to make..
On April 20th, 1999, two high school kids went their usual early-morning routeto bowling class, that’s skipping school to play ten-pin bowling instead.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold planted bombs at Columbine High Schooland took the place over in a seemingly military-style operation intending to shootany children and teachers that survived. The bombs placed in the school cafeteriadidn’t go off, but before they shot themselves in the head they slaughtered12 students and one teacher, although many others were wounded by the 900rounds of ammo that were fired. All of the guns and ammunition were boughtlegally.
That’s the basis for this documentary, although it also examines America’sgun culture and questions whether they’re really needed at all in the main.
There’s chat with relatives and classmates of those who died, and onejournalist is shown saying at the time, “Harris’ diary also detailedideas about hijacking an airplane and crashing it into New York City. Somemay characterise that as fantasy.” Sadly, prophetic words indeed.
CCTV footage of the actual event in the school is shown, plus phone calls to 911including the father of Eric Harris admitting that his son may have someinvolvement because he’s part of what the media call “The Trench Coat Mafia”.Then just ten days later, actor and NRA (National Rifle Association) presidentCharlton Heston came to town to stage a pro-gun rally. Moron.
Along the way until we see a final interview with Heston, writer/directorMichael Moore shows us a bank that gives away free guns with eachaccount opened, a lad called DJ who has a homemade five-gallon drum of napalmin his house and is second-highest on the bomb-threat list, John Nichols, thebrother of one of the Oklahoma City bombers Terry Nichols who carried out hisattack on April 19th, 1995 with Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for this.
We also take a look around Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons maker,based in and around Littleton, many of its employees having children who go tothe school in question. The movie also questions America’s need for guns andtakes swipes at the U.S. government and how it helped fund future worldterrorists such as Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. A montage of such clips,to the tune of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” take us on ajourney from the ’50s and ’60s to September 11th, 2001.
The film even includes brief footage of murders and suicides, the latterincluding politician Bud Dwyer who was accused of corruption, organised apress conference and blew his brains out live on TV. Do a google for his nameand you’ll find the MPEG – quite disturbing stuff, but surprisingly of thetwo versions I saw, the 60-second one was worse than the 90-second piece, sincethe former ends on a close-up.
So many people lay the blame of tragedies like this at the door of musicianMarilyn Manson, violent films and computer games, but I don’t buy that. It’sall down to how people were brought up. If they have crap parents then they’llturn out crap themselves. I love a good game ofGrand Theft Auto: Vice City,but I can draw the line between fantasy and reality. While the film can geta little slow in the second half at times, the real-life events depicted hereare nothing less than heartbreaking.
Some banks entice new custom with free pens or £30.
Some other banks have different ideas…
The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio and isanamorphic. When the source is good, it’s very good, but when it’s iffy thenthat shows. That doesn’t mean there’s any problems with the transfer, but justthat as a documentary don’t expect high-quality source footage throughout.
There’s no problems with the sound, but there’s absolutely nothing that makesthis a must-see in Dolby Digital 5.1. A standard surround track would make nodifference here.
All of the extras, apart from the trailer and intro, are on disc 2.
- Trailer (2 mins):1.85:1 letterbox and snappily put together in an over-the-top manner. Watchthe film first.
- Intro (4 mins):Well, watch this before the film and then watch the trailer, in that order.Moore explains there’s no audio commentary because the film explains it wellenough, which is true.
- Exclusive: Michael Moore on his Oscar win and acceptance speech (15½ mins):An interesting and candid solo piece to camera describing the event, sincehe wasn’t given the rights to show the event, and how everyone else was worriedwhat he’d say about the war in Iraq. Filmed in 4:3 fullscreen, as is all thefollowing interview-style supplementary material.
- Return to Denver/Littleton – 6 months after the release of Bowling for Columbine (25 mins):Moore gives an impassioned speech to those who were affected by everythingand takes time out afterwards to chat to his fans in detail.
- Michael Moore interviewed by Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart (21 mins):Recorded at HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival on February 27th 2003.
- Michael Moore on The Charlie Rose Show (25 mins):And by this point you realise there’s nearly as much here in interviewmaterial as there was a film. A lot of it will start to repeat itself, butit’s good to have for the completist even if it’s overkill for others.
- Music Video (3 mins):Marilyn Manson’s Fight Song
- Staff and Crew Photo Gallery (3 mins):One at a time, in alpha order.
- DVD-ROM extras:Teacher’s Guide information, although it’s also available atBowling For Columbine.com,according to the DVD.
The disc has 16 chapters and could do with a few more, subtitles are inEnglish only, but the menus fit in well with the bowling theme in atongue-in-cheek manner.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.