Michael Moore Takes Aim at U.S. Gun Culture
Fri Sep 6, 2002 - 6:48 PM ET
By Amran Abocar

TORONTO (Reuters) - Americans may not like what they see in Michael Moore's film "Bowling for Columbine" which examines U.S. gun culture, but the director hopes moviegoers will leave the theater with more than just anger and try to better their society.

Moore's film, inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado, will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 11.

"This ultimately isn't a film about guns (or) gun control. This is a film about the American psyche and the American ethic," Moore said at a press conference. "I'm much more concerned about the fact that we've just gone nuts as opposed to whether we've got too many gun nuts in America.

The film begins with a sequence on Moore opening an account in a bank, where his welcome gift as a new customer is a rifle, underlining the easy availability of arms.

That humor turns to horror as the viewer is treated to other, more chilling, images, including previously unseen footage from surveillance cameras that recorded teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on their bloody rampage through Columbine.

The film's title is a reference to Klebold and Harris's bowling outing before the shooting.

Moore's documentary made a triumphant visit to the Cannes film festival ( news - web sites) earlier this year where it received a special anniversary prize. It was the first documentary to show at the festival in 46 years.

"It's a film that cuts very close to the bone and it's an uncomfortable film for Americans," he said. "I love being an American. I'm trying to do this to try and make us better."

To help Americans become better, the director travels to Canada to understand why Canadians are not as trigger-happy as their American cousins.

There follow humorous scenes of Moore walking into people homes in Toronto to prove, he says, that Canada is so safe that people don't even lock their doors. About 60 percent of the doors he tries, open freely.

"We need to change our ethic and aspire to be more Canadian-like," he said. "The Canadian ethic is, 'We're all in the same boat.' Our ethic is, 'Every man for himself and to hell with you'."

The filmmaker, who produced and hosted the cult television programs "TV Nation" and "The Awful Truth," screened his feature documentary "Roger and Me" at the 1989 Toronto film festival.

The 27th Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 5 to Sept. 14.