Moore's Oscar-winning film on America's gun obsession remains one of the most successful documentaries of all time
Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore's seminal documentary on American gun culture and its violent implications, will air (for free) on MSNBC Saturday night.
Moore won an Academy Award for the film in 2003, and famously earned boos from the Hollywood audience after he used his acceptance speech to criticize then President George W. Bush and his nascent war plans in Iraq. Bowling for Columbine won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to tally more than $22 million at the box office, making it one of the biggest documentary hits of all time.
The film represented Moore's cri de coeur (albeit with his signature humor) of gun violence in the country, one of the most horrifying examples being the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado that took place in 1999. Moore confronted Charlton Heston in the film, who at the time was the president of the NRA, and had vowed retain his grip on weapons until they were pried from "my cold dead hands."
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AuthorMatthew Carey is a documentary filmmaker and journalist. His work has appeared on Deadline.com, CNN, CNN.com, TheWrap.com, NBCNews.com and in Documentary magazine. |