American Bowling Essay

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Film

Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine is a documentary that illustrates that most American of virtues -- violence, and gun violence in particular. The author utilizes the documentary format to incorporate a wide variety of disparate scenes and characters that indicate that America's obsession with guns and the violent killings they produce is a fatal folly. Perhaps because the film is a documentary, Moore enjoys much more license to incorporate a variety of different mediums including cartoons, video surveillance footage, and the ever vigilant eye of his own company, than traditional films have. In this respect he is able to manipulate the conventional mechanisms for conveying a film's theme (lighting, camera angles, sound and scoring, dialogue, etc.) much more poignantly to directly address his film's subject in a way that exceeds those of films that are not documentaries. The overall effect is that his film is able to reinforce its theme of America's preoccupation with violence -- and gun violence in particular -- with something more powerful than typical filmmaking techniques: a dose of realism that no one watching the movie can deny.

In fact, the central element of Moore's film is that he is not simply depicting another story about American violence or even simply re-enacting a piece of American history that glorifies its virtues of gun violence. Instead, he is directly interacting with the principle players (still living, and some that are not still living) who took place in a senseless tragedy. As such, the narration of the film is handled primarily by the filmmaker himself, who is also the most eminent character as he conducts interviews with and interacts with individuals who either influenced or were influenced by, both directly or indirectly, the murders committed by a pair of teenagers at Columbine High School in April of 1999.

Due to this fact, Moore both experiences and projects all of the emotions that are intended for his audience to feel as he recreates the motives and several aspects of the film. This filmmaking technique is particular effective in a documentary, as it is a sure way for the director to reinforce his theme. For instance, when the documentarian interviews NRA president and former actor Charles Heston regarding a gun rally Heston held in Columbine less than two weeks after the massacre, the audacity and intended indignation the audience is supposed to feel comes across clearly in Moore's voice, actions, and overall demeanor. The dialogue editing in the particular scene is convincing. The scene is the final one that the film closes on; at one point Heston dismisses Moore and orders the former out of the home of the latter. Undeterred, the filmmaker continues asking questions and attempting to gain accountability from Heston and his indirect role in the shooting as president of one of the most powerful lobbyists in the country. While Moore is still asking questions and talking, the camera cuts to scenes of Heston, unconcerned about the shooting or any sort of culpability on his part or the NRA's, simply walking away. The emptiness with which he leaves the view of Moore's camera, which is reflected in the now empty room of the home, reinforces the emptiness of a violent gun-culture in which there are merely dead bodies, not answers.

Another way in which Moore is able to dominate as the film's central character is to utilize his narration as a means of conveying statistical information that underpins the film's theme. There are several revealing statistics about gun violence in the U.S.: the viewer is informed that despite a 20% decrease in the murder rate during the time of the film's shooting, the coverage of violent crime depicted by television media outlets has ascended 600%, there are over 11,000 shooting deaths a year in the U.S., as compared to in Canada where, despite the fact that 7 of every 10 households have firearms in them, there are only 160 shooting deaths a year. The efficaciousness of the documentary as a medium for stressing the theme of a film is never so apparent as it is when Moore elucidates this fact (as well as other statistics). One of the most telling scenes in the movie is when after revealing the disparity between the gun violence in America and in Canada, Moore also denotes that most Canadians do not even lock their doors at night.

To prove this fact, the filmmaker goes to Canada and barrages into the random front door of a random house.

In doing so, he makes use of a prudent shot selection that not only highlights the difference between the gun violence in the U.S. And Canada, but which also enables him to keep his documentary an amalgamation of different styles and cinematic techniques.

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For this particular shot, the camera actually rushes headlong into the doorway in which Moore stumbles upon some unassuming residents. The shot selection is akin to that utilized in television programs such as C.O.P.S. when they barge into houses making sweeps of gang territory. The rush of breaking through the door adds to the sense of excitement, which is immediately contrasted by the staid, relaxed people the filmmaker encounters. Although they have weapons in the house and their front door is unlocked, they are far from alarmed. The implications of this particular scene are clear -- despite the fact that Canada has nearly as many guns as the U.S., people are not frightened or trigger happy as much as their counterparts in the United States are.

The key question the film attempts to answer, of course, is why this fact is existent. Certainly the efforts of the media do not help by repeatedly showing acts of violence and crime on television. Nor do the sort of violent video games that the culprits of the Columbine murder regularly played (although such games are certainly available in Canada). This question is not answered by the film so much as the necessity of asking it, and of answering it, is made abundantly clear to the viewer. Some of the most starkly powerful scenes in the film involve the footage of the two gunmen in action -- after they have effectively begun shooting people in their school following a bowling session with certain classmates earlier in the day. The gripping elements of the cinematography and the shots that Moore illustrates from this travesty certainly help to buttress the theme of the movie.

Firstly, these scenes are in black and white, which presents a strong visual contrast with the multitude of colors evinced throughout the vast majority of the film. As such, there is a grainy, surreal feel to the footage -- some of which is played in slow motion. The filmmaker focuses in on the pair, walking around a cafeteria or classroom with their assault weapons in hand, looking for a reason to murder or maim again. Such footage is interspersed with background information about the killers: their estrangement from their classmates, their violent proclivities outside of the classroom, and their propensity for bowling, among others. The reason there is not a lot of editing or usage of glossy big budget Hollywood cutting and editing in these scenes, is because there is little need for it: the footage itself, the shots of the murders in action and implementing a long planned missive is terrifying and proof enough of the disturbing preoccupation with guns and violence that have always accompanied life in America.

In fact, this aspect of Moore's work actually transcends all of the typical cinematic conventions for affecting the thoughts and emotions of the viewer, which typically includes a host of filmmaking techniques, editing, and technologies to accomplish the best film. For the most part, the realism of the film and the horrors inflicted by the gunmen is enough to rivet the viewer. The most effective way that Moore delivers his point is by combining his narration with scenes that build on the facts delivered through it. For instance, he reveals that all of the bullets that the gunmen spewed on that fateful day cost approximately 15 cents a piece and were purchased from K-Mart. One of the most moving scenes in the film is when the filmmaker goes to K-Mart with two people who were injured in the shooting and tries to return the bullets. The actual logistics of the scene are fairly basic -- the threesome are featured in the office of a K-Mart employee. The dialogue is relatively simple, and is little more than a general call for sympathy on the part of K-Mart for the many innocent victims of the aforementioned crime. Yet the scene is moving not just because one of the victims is partially paralyzed, but also because the audience can see, through the conversation, the poignant urgency of Moore's theme through this and many other instances of the combination of narration and scene selection. This sort of contemporary realism transcends the medium of film and helps to present certain situations about American life that….....

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