Synopsis
This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old. Bowling for Columbine is a journey through the US, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.
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Cast
- Michael MooreSelf
- George H. W. BushSelf
- George W. BushSelf
- Charlton HestonSelf - NRA President
- Jacobo ÁrbenzSelf - President of Guatemala
- Mike BradleySelf - Mayor of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
- Dick ClarkSelf
- Arthur A. BuschSelf - County Prosecutor: Flint, Michigan
- Michael CaldwellSelf - Police Detective
- Richard CastaldoSelf - Columbine Victim
Recommendations
- 88
ReelViews
Imperfect as it may be, Bowling for Columbine is riveting stuff. - 80
The New Yorker
When he follows his nose -- say, by tracing his own connections to Eric Harris, one of the Columbine shooters -- he implicates himself in what he hates and fears, and he emerges as a wounded patriot searching for a small measure of clarity. [28 October 2002, p. 119] - 75
Charlotte Observer
At its best, the movie powerfully indicts our violent history. A montage of bloody U.S. interventions in foreign affairs over the last half-century, most overthrowing elected governments we didn't like, left me shaken. - 75
New York Daily News
Moore brilliantly unmasks the inanity of the arguments used in the debate over gun control in America. He then undermines himself by leaping into the blame game without supporting his central thesis, that the media is what makes teens like the ones at Columbine turn around and shoot up their schools. - 75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Moore continues another one infinitely more valuable -- the proud line that extends right back to Mark Twain, embracing all those satirists so enamoured with America at its best that they won't stand silent for America at its worst. - 70
Los Angeles Times
Moore's concern about issues is genuine, and his showboating technique is often entertaining. But he is not the most organized person in the world, and there is a scattershot randomness about this film that is both its essence and a source of frustration. - 70
Film Threat
It’s a welcome addition to the national debate, which while not always on the money, is consistently thoughtful, smart and thoroughly satisfying. - 67
Austin Chronicle
Fun and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking.
