Bowling for columbine is a narrated documentary directed by Michael Moore. The documentary attempts to make people believe that the reason why such tragedies like the columbine school shooting happen is because of the political structure of the United States and the way it is run. The choice of subject, approach, choice of shots, shot construction and soundtrack are all used to try and make the viewers agree with Moore’s view on the Columbine massacre by making us feel as well as think.
Michael Moore is a notorious campaigner against the United States Government and the affects it has on the general American public. For this reason it comes as no surprise that Moore would choose a well documented case such as the Columbine shooting to try and prove once again, how the political structure of the United States is failing its public. Moore uses an approach showing the government in a negative light by proving what they say is in fact false. When interviewing an official from the Lockheed Martin weapons factory (also situated in columbine) the official attempts to explain that the weapons they make are to be used against an aggressor so they could not be linked to the cause of the columbine shooting at all, “We don’t get irri
Bowling for Columbine has gone on to become an Oscar award winning documentary and in my view it is a highly deserved winner. In almost any section of the film Moore successfully uses documentary techniques to make the audience think or feel a certain way about the scene, making many of them agree with Moore’s views. I would recommend everyone to watch bowling for columbine and to read and watch past projects of Moore’s because he offers a different view on society as to what you would normally see or hear in the media whilst being very comedic and entertaining at the same time.
Moore makes us feel in a very emotional section of the documentary when he takes a walk through the school after which we are shown the security camera tapes of the killings and footage of the aftermath. Throughout the duration of these scenes there is slow death like music in the background putting a very depressive mood on what we are seeing. To add to the depressive music there is recordings of emergency phone calls by hysterical teachers calling for help whilst crying and trying to direct the children to safety. These two elements of the soundtrack help to create the feeling that something very bad has happened. Moore
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