After the publication of Michael Moore’s documentary “Bowling for Columbine” and its remarkable international path to stardom an inspired controversy was set in motion. The movie has been strongly criticized for its allegedly biased way of presenting Moore’s estimation of the state of affairs in America. However mostly lobbyists who certainly cannot claim to be objective themselves articulated those concerns.
The latest outcry was to be perceived after famous actor Charlton Heston resigned from his position as NRA chairman and declared his being in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Moore’s interview with Heston is one of the highlights in the film. There the former NRA chief is questioned about the reasons for America’s high gun murder rate and after repeating himself several times, he gradually becomes silent and leaves the room. Subsequently, it had been claimed that Moore would have mentally tortured an old sick man. Yet the fact that Heston could not find appropriate responses only deriv
es from Moore’s unquestionable talent as an interviewer. If Heston really had been in a bad condition, why would he have agreed on the meeting and invited the crew into his house?
His accepting alternative cinematic effects, such as the comic strip, is another indication for Moore’s open-mindedness which he has also been criticized for in the context of disputed rock-singer Marilyn Manson. His impartiality is really noteworthy in this context because after the Columbine massacre especially conservative and strictly religious groups used Manson’s image and the Columbine perpetrator’s attraction to him as welcome pretext to announce him the scapegoat for the unexplainable events in April 1999. Contrary to the public opinion, Moore decided to dig a little bit deeper. Finding out that self-appointed Anti-Christ Manson was surprisingly intelligible, the singer mentioned the largest US-bombing on Kosovo that occurred to be on the same morning as the shootings. Furthermore Moore exposed that Marilyn Manson had
Example Essays Home
