Ever since I saw Bowling for Columbine I have watched every one of Michael Moore’s productions and most of the videos that were against Michael Moore. I have been fascinated that someone who has more vocal haters than fans can rise to such popularity. I bought tickets to his shows and rented his movie simply because I wanted to know what hornets nest he stuck a stick in.
What was so unique about Michael Moore’s documentaries (I use that term only because that is what they are classified as) was how much of Michael Moore’s perspective and personality was injected into the film. His documentaries were anything but the classic informational borefests of the past. They hit you emotionally in many different ways. I remember laughing, feeling fury and feeling sympathy (sometimes to the point of tears) when watching all of his documentaries. In Bowling for Columbine I felt sympathy for the children who has been victims of gun violence. In Roger and Me it was the workers at GM whose lives and town had been torn apart. In Fahrenheit 9/11 it was the Iraqis and propagandized American teens. In Sicko it was the poor. In every one it was a group of people that I had not previously even considered in my day to day. What I would not admit to others at the time was the sympathy I felt, especially for those who were effected by whatever subject he was focusing on.
Most of the time Michael Moore’s political ideology was the opposite of mine, and yet I felt myself going back time and time again to learn more about him and his messages. Often I wrote him off as a propagandist, other times as a whacked out socialist and rarely thought about what his intentions were for creating these documentaries and why I connected to them despite my opposition to viewpoint that he supported.
After watching this video (spoilers), I realized what it was that connected emotionally with me. It was that he was against violence. That is also why he had so much vocal opposition, because he was pointing out guns where people were not used to seeing them. It made them (myself included) nervous everytime Michael would shine the light on yet another source of violence in our country.
What frustrates me to this day is that although he is showing where violence lies, he is still not getting to the root. He still supports the biggest gun of all; the government. His solution to violence is more violence, although I think he is unaware of that consciously. Imagine the uproar he would cause if he were to say the solution to a problem was no more violence, no more government. Very few have the bravery to do that.
