Review of Bowling for Columbine (2002) by Jourdan C — 15 Jul 2009

This film is so called a documentary; however, some critics say itâ??s a fiction because the content wasnâ??t that true. They point out several mistaken statements which may mislead the audience. For example, the wrong time table of the Heston interview. As an audience, I donâ??t care about that some much, but this film won the Oscar for best documentary, so it would be scan under the magnifier. One thing that I most admire Michael Moore is his perfect use of ironic images or sounds with such humor. There is plenty of irony in the film. The animate sequence is the funniest one in my opinion. I remember there are also animate sequences in Sicko. Itâ??s quite clever to discuss the serious issue in the way of storytelling. The cartoon is cute but the content is a satire. Thatâ??s like the poison been covered by the syrup. Since the film is talking about serious and cruel issue, if the director chooses to film it in a formal way, itâ??s not easy to attract the audiences and provoke the society. While the film seems easy and fun, the strength of the satire would be stronger. The idea can be easily conveyed to the audiences.

I have to say Michael Moore is really good at editing. He ingeniously cut those vintage documentaries, videos, clips and music which perfectly combining into the film, and then comes out with great effect. In this film, especially like the use of What a beautiful world. The song is sweet while the concept and the images are in the contrary. That really makes me laugh. During the film, the whole class keeps laughing, itâ??s just like watching a comedy. The clip of Chris Rockâ??s show is very amusing. His talk seems hilarious but indeed has some thankful meaning in it.

Michael Moore is bold, he is not afraid of offending bigwigs. He did a lot things which seems exaggerate and made audience concern about his safety. I think he is just like a journalist, the one which is more moral. I would like to see another film, Fahrenheit 9/11. By the way, Marilyn Manson gave me a good impression in the film. What he said in this film is quite right, I canâ??t agree with him more.