MOORE TAKES AIM AT GUN CULTURE.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic CALLING Michael Moore's ``Bowling for Columbine'' the most important film of the year does it - and you - a disservice. It makes it sound like a civics civics, branch of learning that treats of the relationship between citizens and their society and state, originally called civil government. With the large immigration into the United States in the latter half of the 19th cent. lesson, and civics lessons are never this much fun. Moore's documentary (don't hold the form against him) does have education on its mind. The movie aims at answering some tough questions about guns and violence in America, but Moore approaches the subject with the same mixture of mischief and outrage that made his 1989 look at the despair in Flint, Mich., ``Roger & Me,'' such compelling viewing. Moore may sometimes be shrill and sanctimonious sanc·ti·mo·ni·ous adj. Feigning piety or righteousness: "a solemn, unsmiling, sanctimonious old iceberg that looked like he was waiting for a vacancy in the Trinity" Mark Twain. , not to mention a shameless self-promoter, but he's never boring. And with ``Columbine'' arriving just as America appears headed toward another violent conflict overseas, he has never been timelier. The movie is a loosely assembled hodgepodge of interviews, news reports and animation designed to get to the heart of two questions: Why is America so preoccupied with guns? And why does that obsession lead to more than 11,000 gun-related deaths a year? (By comparison, England, home of lad culture Lad culture also Laddish culture is a subculture commonly associated with Britpop music of the 1990s and the BBC TV sitcom, Men Behaving Badly.[1] and soccer hooligans, has 165.) Some of Moore's side trips through America are designed to be goofy: He visits a Midwestern bank that gives a high-powered rifle to anyone who opens an account. He shows a marketing video for school uniforms that has a nonuniform-wearing teen, shirt untucked, pulling out a dozen concealed weapons (Law) dangerous weapons so carried on the person as to be knowingly or willfully concealed from sight, - a practice forbidden by statute.<- in some states! -> See under Concealed. See also: Concealed Weapon , including a rifle. (Beware the children!) He inserts a hilarious cartoon history lesson (brilliantly put together by Harold Moss) that lays Americans' preoccupation with guns on fear's doorstep. Moore is working on a huge canvas here, and the slapdash slap·dash adj. Hasty and careless, as in execution: slapdash work. adv. In a reckless haphazard manner. approach doesn't always bear up under scrutiny. Attempts to link domestic and international violence (the biggest employer in Littleton, Colo., home of Columbine columbine, in botany columbine (kŏl`əmbīn), any plant of the genus Aquilegia, temperate-zone perennials of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercup family), popular both as wildflowers and as garden flowers. High, is missile manufacturer Lockheed Martin) are interesting, but specious spe·cious adj. 1. Having the ring of truth or plausibility but actually fallacious: a specious argument. 2. Deceptively attractive. . A montage of violence in U.S. foreign policy (grievously set to Louis Armstrong's ``What a Wonderful World'') is likewise simplistic sim·plism n. The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications. [French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple . But bless him anyway for raising the points. What ``Columbine'' comes back to time and time again is fear. Violent crime in America has decreased 20 percent in the past several years, but media coverage of violence is up 600 percent. Why do Canadians, who have 7 million guns in 10 million households, refrain from killing each other and sleep with their doors unlocked? Moore looks at their evening news and - no surprise - finds it lacking in the kind of sick, exploitative coverage of murder and negativity that fills American broadcasts. Meanwhile, Canadians do enjoy listening to Marilyn Manson, who was one of the pop-culture scapegoats in the wake of the Columbine shootings. Moore talks to Manson and finds a sane, eloquent person who addresses how the news media, politicians and corporations conspire con·spire v. con·spired, con·spir·ing, con·spires v.intr. 1. To plan together secretly to commit an illegal or wrongful act or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action. 2. to keep people afraid so they will consume more things - including guns. Maybe you won't agree, and that's fine. The beauty of ``Bowling for Columbine'' is that Moore doesn't necessarily want you to agree. He simply wants people to shake themselves from a collective lethargy, raise some questions and demand some answers. He has crafted a film that's hilarious and horrifying and heartbreaking. And for anyone who cares about the future of America, it's required viewing. BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE - Four stars (R: violent images and language) Director: Michael Moore. Running time: 2 hr. Playing: Laemmle's Town Center 5 in Encino; Landmark's Rialto Rialto, city (1990 pop. 72,388), San Bernardino co., S Calif., a residential suburb of San Bernardino; inc. 1911. The city has greatly expanded as a result of the economic and demographic growth of the southern California area. in South Pasadena; Landmark's Regent in Westwood; Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood. In a nutshell: A brilliant documentary about guns and violence that is hilarious and heartbreaking and horrifying - and required viewing. |
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