Filmmaker Michael Moore wants to make one thing crystal clear
about his latest film, “Bowling for Columbine.”
“Ultimately, this film is not about guns, it’s not
about school shootings,” Moore said about the documentary,
the first to be accepted into the Cannes Film Festival for
competition in 46 years. “You could make a documentary about
how horrible the gun problem is, but I don’t care about that.
I already know that “¦ who would go see that?”
Instead, “Columbine” attempts to understand a deeper
sociological phenomenon in America.
“This is my, “˜you’re going to go on a little
journey into the dark side of the American soul,'”
Moore said.
Along the way, there are encounters with Michigan Militia,
“South Park” co-creator Matt Stone, student survivors
of the Columbine massacre, a mad amalgam of media-created images of
society, National Rifle Association President Charlton Heston, and
yes, Dick Clark.
As helter skelter as it sounds, Moore uses his signature blend
of humor and tragedy (evident in his other film “Roger &
Me,” his TV show “TV Nation” and his best-selling
book “Stupid White Men”) to send his message home.
“Irony” is a very operative word with Moore.
Case in point: some will probably be surprised that the liberal
Moore himself has been a member of the NRA since childhood. Viewers
may find this affiliation adds perspective to
“Columbine.” In fact, Moore joined the NRA again after
the Columbine shootings.
The idea for the entire film project began as a bid to challenge
the office of NRA President Charlton Heston.
“I had this grand plan ““ if they had four million
members, I’d get five million Americans to join, vote for me,
and then I’d dismantle the organization,” Moore said.
“But then that just seemed like too much work, and I’m
a slacker at heart, so I made a movie instead.”
Moore’s thesis in this film corners America as a society
driven by media-induced fear: news, television and cinema.
“I’m not saying fear is a bad thing,” Moore
said. “I am saying we are being so bombarded with everything.
We’re so afraid of everything that we’ve lost our fear
compass. We can’t distinguish between the real threats and
the unreal threats.”
Moore used America’s latest headline shocker, the mystery
sniper in Maryland, as a prime example.
“(As of Wednesday) he shot eight people,” he said.
“There’s almost 40 people a day shot and killed in this
country. But we can’t put a satellite truck on it, can we?
Because it’s all over a 3000-mile landscape. This guy’s
made it convenient for cable news. You can park one satellite truck
on the Ralph’s parking lot somewhere in Montgomery
County.”
“Columbine” culminates with an unrehearsed
one-on-one interview with Heston, where the actor and NRA president
claims the root of the problem of violence has to do with the
amount of mixed ethnicities in America.
“I’m very careful to make sure I’m not doing
any funny cutting. I wanted there to be the continuity of what he
is saying,” Moore said. “There’s no prompting
from me. I have not brought up race at all, he brings it up on his
own.”
When asked if Heston’s claim about his
Alzheimer’s-like symptoms in August could have anything to do
with his racist statements Moore simply said, “The studio has
asked me not to give my opinion on this issue.”
According to Moore, Heston was recovering from a hip-replacement
surgery at the time of the film shoot. Now he keeps busy
campaigning for Republicans and acting in a new film.
“I will say I hope he does not have Alzheimer’s
because it’s a horrible thing, and I would not wish that on
anyone,” Moore said. “The timing (of Heston’s
Alzheimer statement) was “¦ strange.”
As with his other works, Moore’s creative process in
“Columbine” is spontaneous. Moore never asks for a
second take when dealing with human emotion.
“It’s all very loosey-goosey, spur-of-the-moment
chaos theory at work,” Moore said. “I’m all about
trying to prick people’s consciences.”
When asked if Moore had any advice for journalists today, Moore
replied, “George Seldes was a muckraking journalist from the
’30s and ’40s, and his slogan that he lived by was
“˜All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should
be believed.’ And you could pretty much say that about
corporations or anyone in power.”
“You are being lied to all the time,” Moore added,
“and it is your job to find out and make them prove that they
are telling the truth. And that includes this guy sitting at the
table right now talking to you.”