"Bowling For Columbine" is on Bravo today

[Cleita]

for those who are interested in revisiting this historical mass killing in a school and comparing it to VT, it's on at 3:30 p.m. PDT, which I believe is 6:30 p.m. EDT. I'm personally curious if there are some constants there that can be used to avoid these tragedies in the future.

[uppityperson]

1. Good, that is a good movie.

a few places difficult, but mostly overall really good.

[Berry Cool]

3. Yeah, I have mixed feelings about it.

For example, the part where Moore says that nobody in Canada locks their doors at night because they have gun control and fewer guns and implies, almost, that Canada is a completely crime-free country. What nonsense. Anyone who's spent any time in Canada knows that while it may have far fewer gun deaths than the United States, it is not a crime-free paradise and people across the country do not all leave their doors unlocked all the time--especially in the cities.

That stuff just fed into the easy stereotype believed by some (not all) US liberals that Canada is some kind of magical paradise where crime never happens. Realistically thinking US liberals know it is not.

[Lisa]

4. I suspect Moore was being sarcastic

He's visited up here often enough to know that we have problems. For example, when he screened his film in Vancouver, it was pretty obvious to anyone going through that particular part of town that we have urban decay and poverty issues. He's not a dumb guy, so my guess is that he might have been poking fun at ultra-dippy liberals (he's done this before), and at the extremists like Buchanan who make Canada out to be some bizarre cross between Europe and North Korea. Once he got that out, though, he did settle down to look at some actual policy topics, like public housing (and that interview with the mayor of Windsor). (From what I have heard, urban geography experts mention some of the same factors as Moore does, when looking at the differences between US and Canadian cities, and how our urban ghettos generally aren't as large, impoverished, or long-established as in the US.)

[mudesi]

7. That was 'sort of' true

He never mentions anything about "night". But it is true that in general, people don't lock there doors here in Toronto during the day. At least, I know I don't and my neighbors, for the most part, don't. We have are "bad" neighborhoods, too, but a bad year in Toronto consists of about 30 gun murders. A couple of years ago we had 50 or so gun murders due to a spike in gang activity, and that was quite unsettling for many. A series of police raids took them off the street, though and it looks like we're back to normal now.

When we hear things like Chicago or Detroit or L.A. had 400 gun murders in one year, it's just not at all comprehensible to us. It's not smart to be completely complacent in a big city, of course, but I generally feel pretty safe walking the streets here at 2 in the morning. The probability of being victimized in any way is quite low. I wouldn't go so far to say that bad things never happen, but it's rare.

[Forkboy]

2. Marilyn Manson said the sanest thing in the entire movie

When asked what he'd say to the families in Columbine he said he wouldn't say anything,he'd listen because that was the one thing no one had done yet.

I'm not really a fan of his music,but the man is a lot smarter than people give him credit for,and he's impressed me in many interviews with his grasp of the issues.

[uppityperson]

8. Indeed, Marilyn Manson was impressive.

[WiseButAngrySara]

5. Thanks! I've actually never seen this though I've been

wanting to, and was going to check it out at Blockbusters.

[mudesi]

6. It's probably Moore's best

I also enjoyed "Roger and Me", but "Fahrenheit 9/11" in my opinion was somewhat weak.

Roger is his Reservoir Dogs while Bowling is his Pulp Fiction.

[WiseButAngrySara]

9. My brother agrees with you on this. I've only seen

Fahrenheit 9/11.