Bowling for Columbine: Viewer Response.
I thought this movie was a very powerful documentary. It opened my mind about how serious the problem of guns is in America. Coming from a small town, guns don"t really phase me much. Almost everyone I know from home has a gun. They are usually shotguns used for hunting. It is not at all uncommon to see guns displayed in a glass gun rack in the living rooms of many homes in my town. My family never had any guns, but they are a common sight. A lot of my male friends have gun racks on their trucks. My neighbors have three shotguns propped against the wall right next to their bed. The movie had many good points, but it was pretty much one sided. The only scene that I really didn"t agree with was when they gave all the statistics about how the United States has bombed all of these places. They made it look like there was no reason for these attacks when we all know there were. People have to remember that we are the most powerful country, and it is our responsibility to try and help our allies. I"m not saying that it is okay to bomb other countries, but there are reasons behind what our government chooses to do. I really enjoyed the rest of the movie. They used many very powerful images and statistics that hit close to home. I thought the most emotional scene was the one of the security camera footage from the Columbine shooting. These visual images were combined with the audio 911 calls, and it created a great effect. The last scene with Charlton Heston was also interesting. It was weird because he seemed like the type of person that people admired and looked up to, but now he was being shown in a whole different light. The interview showed how he doesn"t seem to care much at all about the gun victims, and he didn"t really have anything positive to say. He just seemed like a bitter old man, and made the NRA look like a total joke. I know this movie made a difference in how I view our country's gun control, and something has to change soon.