It’s well known in the United States that in April 1999 two male teenagers went on a shooting rampage in Columbine High School, killing 13 of their fellow students. But what is probably not as well known is that on the same morning, these two students attended their gym class and went bowling, as if it was just another ordinary day in Littleton, Colorado.

Michael Moore, whose previous films included the award-winning documentary Roger & Me, makes the Columbine incident the launching pad for this new documentary that explores gun violence in the United States. What makes it even more interesting is that Moore himself claims to be a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). At the beginning of the film he shows his awards for marksmanship. He also shows how today he can go into a local bank and get a free gun by simply opening a bank account. He does it and walks right out the door with the gun in his hand.

Bowling for Columbine is surprising and sometimes shocking, but oftentimes it’s hilarious too for the absurdity it unveils. You’ll shake your head in disbelief at the interviews, the scenarios, and also at some of the images that Moore shows.

So what’s Moore’s theory for America’s gun fixation? He has a number of reasons, as do others, but the main thing he points out is the media’s seeming need to focus on people’s fears -- often stoking the fires of fear to convince the public that they’re always in constant danger of something. Farfetched? Far from it when you flick on the news. Today you’ll see almost nonstop images and stories that dwell on the negative, and usually it’s about something to be frightened of. In recent years violent crime in the United States has decreased, but coverage in the news has escalated at an astonishing rate. Figure that out. When the September 11 attacks happened sales of firearms and ammunition skyrocketed in the United States. Who were these people getting ready to fight? Each other?

Take today’s news seriously and you’ll swear that you won’t be able to walk out in front of your house without something unspeakable happening to you. But is it true? Some of these things in the news certainly do happen, but is it as often as the news makes you think? Hardly.

And that’s Moore’s biggest point in Bowling for Columbine: Largely through the media, the United States has become a fear-based society and it’s good for selling plenty of things -- including guns. When you’ve got a society stoked up on fear, they’d better arm themselves for the enemy -- whoever it is. The unfortunate thing, though, is that Americans don’t seem to be just arming themselves; Americans are using these weapons -- on each other!

The media scrutiny, though, takes the back seat to Moore’s two real zingers in the film. The first is when he takes two permanently disabled survivors of the Columbine shootings to the headquarters of Kmart. Kmart, you see, sold the bullets to the Columbine shooters. Then there’s Moore’s interview with NRA front man Charlton Heston. Heston, obviously unprepared for Moore’s straight-to-the-point questioning, claims always to keep a loaded gun in his heavily secured mansion. Why? It’s his right. Has he ever used it? No. Has he ever been remotely close to needing to use it in his heavily secured mansion? No again. In fact, by the looks of things, he doesn’t even seem to know where it is; but still, he advocates that you should have one too. Heston makes little sense from the beginning, but a few minutes into the interview, without a script to guide him, he becomes even more unraveled with answers that border on incoherent. Minutes later he knows he’s been exposed and pathetically hobbles away. Although it’s sad to see Heston shown as a bumbling fool so late in his life, no one can claim he didn’t bring it on himself by taking the leadership position he has at the NRA. This is undoubtedly one movie role he’ll hope you’ll forget.

While Bowling for Columbine is not a perfect documentary -- definitely leaning to one side and mocking its opponents instead of keeping strictly neutral -- it is a compelling and riveting film that raises plenty of questions and also supplies a lot of answers. In fact, this is one of the best films of the year that should be seen by all ages, despite the fact that the MPAA in their lack of wisdom (again) gave it an R rating. Bowling for Columbine gets a hearty **** rating.

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