Bowling For Columbine

              Bowling For Columbine
                                                         

                          Michael Moore 
Michael Francis Moore was born in the 1954 on April 23rd. He is an American filmaker, social critic, author and political activist. He has directed and produced Fahrenheit 9/11, which is known for being the highest paying and grossing documentary of all time and is the winner of the Palme d'Or. Also his known films Sicko which was films in 2007 and 2002 Bowling for Columbine also scored a place in the top ten highest grossing documentaries. Moore then won the Academy Award for documentary feature. In 2008 September, he then released his very first free movie onto the internet, which was Slack Uprising, which documented and portrayed his personal ambition to encourage more and more Americans to vote in presidential election, because he believed it is vital for the right presidents to be elected for the future of america. In addition Moore starred and wrote for the TV show TV Nation and The Awful Truth, and also writing and cinematic works criticise globalization , assault weapon ownership, large corporation, U.S presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the American health care system, capitalism and the Iraq was. 


Opinions 
Whilst watching the documentary and once it finished, it had an immense impression on me and I formed a wide range of opinions on the documentary. My first opinion of the documentary was that America seemed very corrupt by the government, which is why I think there is so much gun crime in America. I also thought that the reason why America has so much gun and weaponry is because, America always views something or someone as a threat, which is why they only feel comfortable when they have weapons in case they have to defend themselves. In contrast to Canada and Canadians who feel as if they have nothing to fear, which is why they feel comfortable to leave the house doors unlocked. My impression was that it was a very friendly and trust worthy community, furthermore i like the fact that the Canadians looked after their there own and that the fact that everyone was taken care of ,looked after and given equal chances. Where as the USA government who only really benefit those who were well off and wealthy however those less fortunate and poorer were struggling, in particular single mud who were condoned to travel to far places to work for less than a minimum wage and spend so much time away from home they nearly saw their children and due to their wages couldn't take care of their own. 

My opinions on the Director was good, I really like the fact that Michael Moore, didn't only focus on one side of the audience who were more pro guns and weaponry, but also looked at the side of those who were against it as well. i like this because it showed me that its not just the whole of america who are for weaponry but their are some people who didn't agree with guns. I also liked the fact that Moore showed the affects of weaponry usage, for example when he interviewed those teenagers who were shot, in resort one had numerous shot scars and the other was paralysed to the waist down. In addition decided to stop Wall-mart selling bullets so that it isn't so easy for people to access them. 

i found numerous aspects and stories of the documentary shocking, one in particular was the one story about the 6 year old child who shot another 6 year old. However i was immensely against people  calling all the blame on the child's mother, i don't think it was her fault at all in a way i think it is the governments fault for making weaponry so accessible to people of all ages, and forcing single mothers to work and in that not even paying them another for them to provide for their family so would have to get many others jobs, which is what the mother of the child resorted too so she was home enough to see him to give him much guidance.

In addition  one thing which shocked me but I thought was good that Moore looked at, was the fact that people were blaming the Rock singer 'Marilyn Manson' for why teenagers are so violent. I found it shocking because they were blaming someone who might represent bad morals such as suicide and killings for the reason teenagers were being violent instead of calling some blame on the government who has more of an influential impact on the public. i think that the fact the government allows for guns to be freely sold and accessible, but also not helping those who are less fortunate could be a reason why children are more violent. furthermore in the documentary there was a part were the well known comedian "Chris Rock' came on an said something along the lines that if guns and bullets costed $5.000 people would think more about shooting people, I agreed immensely with this because the American Government raised the prices of weaponry making it harder for people to access and gave weaponry to those who serve a valid reason for have them would decrease gun crime. 

Expectations 

I had a variety of expectations, for the film ' Bowling For Columbine'. most of my expectations of the film fit greatly with my expectations. my first expectation of the film from reading the synopsis, is that there was going to be investigations. My expectation was that the director Michael Moore would be investigating a variety if topics in this case the shooting and weapons, and that he would express his findings on these topics. Which matched what happened in the documentary, in the documentary there were lots of investigations going on, Moore investigated the shooting at Columbines high school, finding out about the students who started the shootings. In addition he also investigated the topic of guns and weaponry  but also investigated other topics such as whether there was a reason why America has a immense amount of gun crime. so my expectations for this were meet, however Moore investigated topics which I didn't expect to see in the documentary such as A shooting at a children's school where a six year old boy shot a six year old girl, this really opened my eyes to how easy a child can get a gun and the fact that a child was capable of this act of violence even though he might not had a full understanding of what he did. i found that app lulling because it made me wonder and think about how guns must be idolised in America. 

Another one of my expectation which I felt were met, were the pros and cons of guns and weaponry  In the documentary I did expect to see both sides of people opinions on guns and whether they the pro guns or not. however I didn't expect the documentary do go into great depth and explore a wide range of people who were for and against guns and weaponry.

In the documentary I expected to see opinions from people of the subject matter of guns, my expectations were meet. In the documentary there were a variety of opinions on guns. For example Moore interviewed a man who was for guns, the guy was talking about how much he thought it was appropriate for people to have gun and that peoples keep guns as a source of protection. I expected to see aspects such as this but what I didn't expect the guy to have weaponry in his home, specifically under his bed , when Moore featured this in his piece it did come as a bit of a shock.  

In addition in the documentary I did expect Moore to feature, victims in his piece what I didn't expect as such is for the audience to see the victims scars and the repercussions of the usage of guns. this really shocked me but I think it was good that Moore featured this because it brought a sense of realisation to the documentary and how dangerous fire arms are. So in the sense that in the documentary we would hear and see the victims it did fit my expectations just with a few of some unexpected aspects.