Bowling for Columbine
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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.
What critics thought
Bowling for Columbine drew strong approval from most critics for its provocative energy and dark humor, but a significant minority pushed back hard — not on its politics but on its methods. The central fault line was factual integrity: admirers saw Moore exposing a genuine culture of violence, while detractors accused him of selective editing, outright distortion, and conveniently sidestepping the communities — particularly urban Black Americans — most affected by gun violence.
“It's unnerving, stimulating, likely to provoke anger and sorrow on both political sides—and, above all, it's extremely funny.”
Michael Wilmington·Chicago Tribune
“The slippery logic, tendentious grandstanding, and outright demagoguery on display in Bowling for Columbine should be enough to give pause to its most ardent partisans, while its disquieting insights into the culture of violence in America should occasion sober reflection from those who would prefer to stop their ears.”
A.O. Scott·The New York Times
“filled with so many inaccuracies and distortions that it ought to be classed as a work of fiction.”
The Wall Street Journal
“A decline in murders in New York City alone—from 1,927 in 1993 to 643 in 2001—had, for example, a considerable impact on the declining national rate. Not a lot of those killers or victims were the sort of sports-hunters or militiamen Moore goes out of his way to interview and make fun of.”
Garance Franke-Ruta·The American Prospect
Accolades
Genres
Crime, Documentary, Drama
Cast & Crew
Michael MooreDirectorMichael 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
Bill ClintonSelfBowling for Columbine
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.
What critics thought
Bowling for Columbine drew strong approval from most critics for its provocative energy and dark humor, but a significant minority pushed back hard — not on its politics but on its methods. The central fault line was factual integrity: admirers saw Moore exposing a genuine culture of violence, while detractors accused him of selective editing, outright distortion, and conveniently sidestepping the communities — particularly urban Black Americans — most affected by gun violence.
“It's unnerving, stimulating, likely to provoke anger and sorrow on both political sides—and, above all, it's extremely funny.”
Michael Wilmington·Chicago Tribune
“The slippery logic, tendentious grandstanding, and outright demagoguery on display in Bowling for Columbine should be enough to give pause to its most ardent partisans, while its disquieting insights into the culture of violence in America should occasion sober reflection from those who would prefer to stop their ears.”
A.O. Scott·The New York Times
“filled with so many inaccuracies and distortions that it ought to be classed as a work of fiction.”
The Wall Street Journal
“A decline in murders in New York City alone—from 1,927 in 1993 to 643 in 2001—had, for example, a considerable impact on the declining national rate. Not a lot of those killers or victims were the sort of sports-hunters or militiamen Moore goes out of his way to interview and make fun of.”
Garance Franke-Ruta·The American Prospect
Accolades
Genres
Crime, Documentary, Drama
Cast & Crew
Michael MooreDirectorMichael MooreSelfGeorge H. W. BushSelfGeorge W. BushSelfCharlton HestonSelf - NRA PresidentJacobo ÁrbenzSelf - President of GuatemalaMike BradleySelf - Mayor of Sarnia, Ontario, CanadaDick ClarkSelfBill ClintonSelfStream
Rent & Buy