Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Not just guns, but media, culture, etc.
I saw this in the theatre, and I'll be taking my Public Policy class to see it this month, and I ordered a copy for myself from Amazon.com. While most of us academics take refuge in "multi-factor" analyses, Moore really brings guns & media & fear & culture (N.B. not just guns) to the fore in this trademark in-your-face documentary. While I admire the dry, honest thoroughness of researchers like John Donahue and Ian Ayers, and enjoy the fighting if dishonest spirit of John Lott-Rosh, I think Moore will have a much larger effect on publicizing arguments about public policy. These debates have always been hot rather than "bright" (excepting Donahue et. al.) and Moore brings both heat and light.
Rating: - Great Documentary
I think that the "Bowling For Columbine" movie is a great documentary about we violence is perceived in our country and other countries.Despite the title, this movie has very little to do with what happened at Columbine, although you do have the security video from the cafeteria, the 911 calls and the walk through into the K-Mart officees and I also think that the person who made the most sense in this movie is Marilyn Manson with his interview. I think that this is a must see movie for everyone.
Rating: - Asks hard questions and dismisses simplistic answers.
I watched this film in a theater in San Francisco. The crowd was the usual sampling of the Berkeley Liberals who are so numerous in this part of the world. As the film began I listened to the audience laugh at what they perceived to be jokes pointed at the Right-wing crazies that Moore interviews. (Having also grown up in Michael's home state, I know many not-right-wing, not-crazy people who share the same views.) I listened to the liberal laughter become more forced, then falter, then stop altogether as the movie progressed. By the time we were watching the footage from the security cameras at Columbine High School, there was stunned silence.This movie starts out seeming to be about guns, and many liberals will likely never see past the simple convenience of being gifted with more anti-gun propaganda. But this film asks questions that go way beyond gun control. Why is "ethnic diversity" the cause, in some minds, of gun violence in America? What is the connection between the workplace culture of the parents in Littleton, Colorado, and the alienation of the two boys who killed all those teenagers? What role DOES the mass media, especially the news media, play in exaggerating our fears? What is the connection between a six-year-old murderer and the celebrity owner of the restaurant chain which accepted government subsidies for employing the boy's mother, and kept her from supervising her son by forcing her to work too many hours? What makes us so afraid? Why do so many of us, both left- and right-wing, fear and mistrust our own government? Why don't we expect and demand better from our government officials? As infuriating and deeply disturbing as this film is, I'm glad I watched it. It made me think about the real world and the complex culture we live in. It made me think hard about the difficult business of making that world a better place. It helped me to see the answers from both Liberal Left and the Conservative Right for what they are: burecratic, simplistic, and ineffective.
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