Brian Bass
Expository writing
After viewing the film Bowling for Columbine by filmmaker
Michael Moore many emotions ran through mind.
At first I felt depressed and embarrassed that America could let the
important issue of gun control get so chaotic.
Later I thought more about how Moore skewed the film so I could feel his
intended thoughts. So I came to the
conclusion that Moore did make a very powerful point but with a very strong
filter.
Just like any photograph, film, magazine article or any other form
of media there will always be a filter.
In this particular film, Moore uses a long filter to make a powerful
statement about gun control with a grand social standpoint. In the beginning scene of the film, Moore
goes to a bank where they give you a gun if you open a bank account. At the end of the scene Moore walks out of
the bank with a gun that appears to be given to him right away. What Moore didn’t tell you is the scene was
actually shot in two different takes, one where he opens up a bank account and
then another two weeks later when he receives his rifle. Having the use of an editing program such as
Avid, the filmmaker can combine the two separate scenes into one so it looks as
if everything occurred on the same day.
So many of the powerful scenes in the film could have been altered
completely through editing to prove the filmmakers own point. In the very last (and powerful) scene with
the president of the National Rifle Association, Charlton Heston, Moore drills
at Moses, I mean Heston about various problems with the right to bear
arms. After many questions, which Heston
never fully answers, he walks away in anger.
Since only Moore and his camera crew were there it is hard to tell if
what we saw in the film was the full conversation. Moore could have easily edited out an
important comment that Heston said or something of that context, but we will
never know because Moore has the ability to morph his view in the film he wants
the viewer to see. Moore doesn’t want
the viewer to think about anything pro gun, he wants the audience to only see
and hear what he feels will support his point o f view
In filmmaking, when people hear the word “documentary” they assume
that what they are witnessing is real and rarely question what they are
viewing. Generally, when a documentary
is made, the film is supposed to take an objective standpoint and let the
viewer analyze what they have seen. If
you take a step back and accept that Bowling for Columbine has a long
filter, the question of reality appears to be more important. Yes, Moore filmed real people in the real
world but was every situation truthful?
It is impossible for anything that is documented to be fully truthful
considering people see the world in different ways. For example: when the two airplanes crashed
into the World Trade Center in New York millions of people watched it happen
live and there is no dispute that two planes hit a building but there is a
distinction in the way people saw it occur.
In the same mindset, Moore’s film cannot be considered reality because
you can never fully record reality.
Some other troubles with creating reality on film are the effect
holding a camera in someone’s face will do.
It is in human nature to act one way by themselves and another when they
are with other people. If you add a
camera to the dilemma it makes it impossible to ever really know if the person
being filmed is being their true selves.
In Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can, Leonardo DiCaprio says
“the world only knows what you tell them”.
No matter what the filter was or how it was used in the film. Bowling for Columbine is a gripping
portrayal of the problem America is currently facing with gun control. When Moore shows the footage of the two
teenage assassins in Columbine high school it his horrific and moving. Even though Moore’s opinion is completely
slanted and not objective it sends a clear message that the United States has a
serious problem with gun violence and there needs to be some kind of
intervention. When a six year old child
has the ability to bring a gun to school and kill another classmate that is a
societal failure.
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