Bowling for Columbine (2002) on Netflix

R20022hCrime Documentary Drama

A filmmaker asks why the Columbine High School massacre happened and why American gun violence is so high. In Michigan, a bank hands him a free hunting rifle for a deposit.

Netflix3.5/5
IMDb7.9/10152,726 votes
Rotten Tomatoes95%

Trailer

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Plot summary

A filmmaker sets out to understand why the Columbine High School massacre of 1999 happened and why gun deaths are far more common in the United States than elsewhere. The title comes from reports that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold bowled at 6:00 a.m. that day before the attack, a detail later investigation called mistaken. Michigan militia members practice on bowling pins, and in Oscoda, Michigan, two young residents say guns are easy to come by. Near Columbine, the spokesman for a plant that builds rockets is asked what children think of missiles of mass destruction, and a bank in northern Michigan hands a customer a new hunting rifle for a deposit.

Cast

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

According to one critical account the bank does not ordinarily hand guns to customers: Moore's people arranged the exchange well in advance, the paperwork and waiting time were done long before the scene was shot, and as a favour the rifle was delivered to the bank for him to collect.
After Moore bought a Kmart store's entire supply of ammunition in Sterling Heights and returned to the company's headquarters the next day with local media, Kmart's vice president of communications came down and announced the chain would phase out handgun ammunition sales within 90 days. "We've won," said Moore.
Moore dedicated the film to the memory of three people who all died in gun-related circumstances. One was John Alberts, a sound designer and mixer on much of Moore's work who had been hired to do the sound on this film and killed himself with a gun in January 2001.