Bowling for Columbine

The title comes from an account that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold sat through an early morning bowling class before the attack; later investigation found neither was at school that day. Michael Moore built his title on a misremembered detail. The Kmart sequence produced the most concrete result. Moore took 2 Columbine survivors who still carried bullets in their bodies to the chain headquarters in Troy, Michigan to ask for a refund; stalled, they bought out a nearby store’s ammunition and returned next day with reporters. A vice president of communications then announced that handgun ammunition would leave the shelves within 90 days. The Canadian comparison was shot in Windsor, where Moore finds similar gun ownership and unlocked front doors. Of the bank scene, the Boston Review reported that the paperwork and waiting period were done in advance and the rifle sent ahead. A 4 million dollar budget returned over 58 million worldwide. The prize list runs past one item: with the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature came the 55th Anniversary Prize at Cannes and a César for Best Foreign Film. A good fit if you want an argument carried by staged encounters rather than by statistics. Not for viewers who bristle at a narrator putting himself inside the story; Moore is both the interviewer and voice here.