Steve Pegram pointed me to this 3-part article in "Film Threat" magazine's on-line edition, "The Fictitious Truths of Michael Moore", which ends with an online petition to have Moore and Michael Donavan's Oscar award for "Bowling for Columbine" revoked.
An excerpt:
The movie uses this tragedy as a springboard into the great gun debate, but the Columbine massacre is obviously about more than guns. A quick look at the story shows these two ghouls were plotting the event for some time and their acquisition of guns was a late bit of fortune for their designs. Along with firearms, this aberrant duo brought with them a propane tank modified into an explosive device, as well as a quiver of napalm fueled pipe bombs. It is doubtful the absence of guns would have stalled their quest for long.
and:
Another target in the film is the NRA, and specifically, its president Charlton Heston. The movie uses creative editing and a fluid timeline to paint Heston as a reactionary, who rushed into towns in the wake of shooting deaths of children to hold pro-gun rallies in an effort to stave off anti-gun sentiments. We get to listen to Heston’s Denver address, in which he sounds like a heartless boor in light of the current events in the region, but what is actually broadcast is a judiciously edited version that also contains segments from another speech that was given across the country, nearly a year later. Heston’s original speech was somber and conciliatory, but the audio cut-and-paste transforms him into a state of bloodlust. Moore not only fails to make this distinction, but he edits the scene with visuals so that the audio sounds to be seamlessly delivered from the Denver podium.
It gets worse.
Posted by Russell Whitaker at April 6, 2003 10:47 AM | TrackBackDavid Hardy has catalogued the distortions in Bowling.
Posted by: Anton Sherwood on May 14, 2003 2:52 PM