guns for the people!!! koldo almandoz
Michael Moore certainly didn’t expect such a response when he filmed Bowling for Columbine. And he’s certainly known how to make use of that success. He hasn’t cooped up since he won the special prize at Cannes. His clarity when it comes to speaking is one of the reasons we got in touch with him. Why did you make Bowling for Columbine?
I did a job for the British TV station Channel 4 in 1999. It was for a programme called The Awful Truth. The work we did was based on a teacher who gave shooting classes to kids. The massacre at Columbine High school took place a few days after we had finished. I suddenly realized that as a teenager I had taken part in and won many shooting competitions and that I was a member of the National Rifle Association. I thought I had to make a film about the whole thing.
Why are Americans so obsessed with guns?
The first thing you learn in history class in the States is that the first people who came to America, the pilgrims, came to America fleeing from fear of what might happen to them in Europe. What happened then? Well, the pilgrims ran into the Indians and they once again became victims of their fears, so they killed the Indians. When they had finished with the Indians, they became afraid of each other and they started seeing witches. They started seeing and burning them. Then they won the revolution but they were afraid the British might come back, so what did they write in the constitution: “let us, nevertheless, keep our weapons at hand, for one day the British may return...”
Did you come across any major obstacles while filming?
No, even though it’s the most daring film I’ve made to date. In the USA there is, give or take a few, about 1 gun for every citizen. A lot people will think that the number of killings is perfectly normal with all those guns knocking around. But in Canada they have the same ratio and there is much less gunrelated violence. The problem lies somewhere else, it’s a cultural thing, it’s got to do with education... and economy of course...
I did a job for the British TV station Channel 4 in 1999. It was for a programme called The Awful Truth. The work we did was based on a teacher who gave shooting classes to kids. The massacre at Columbine High school took place a few days after we had finished. I suddenly realized that as a teenager I had taken part in and won many shooting competitions and that I was a member of the National Rifle Association. I thought I had to make a film about the whole thing.
Why are Americans so obsessed with guns?
The first thing you learn in history class in the States is that the first people who came to America, the pilgrims, came to America fleeing from fear of what might happen to them in Europe. What happened then? Well, the pilgrims ran into the Indians and they once again became victims of their fears, so they killed the Indians. When they had finished with the Indians, they became afraid of each other and they started seeing witches. They started seeing and burning them. Then they won the revolution but they were afraid the British might come back, so what did they write in the constitution: “let us, nevertheless, keep our weapons at hand, for one day the British may return...”
Did you come across any major obstacles while filming?
No, even though it’s the most daring film I’ve made to date. In the USA there is, give or take a few, about 1 gun for every citizen. A lot people will think that the number of killings is perfectly normal with all those guns knocking around. But in Canada they have the same ratio and there is much less gunrelated violence. The problem lies somewhere else, it’s a cultural thing, it’s got to do with education... and economy of course...
