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So it was with no small amount of jaw-dropping shock that, for their 2003 awards ceremony, they nominated political rabble- rouser and bad boy of nonfiction filmmaking Michael Moore for the prize. Worse yet, come awards night he actually won the damned thing, a surprise even Moore himself could not have foreseen, taking the stage to both a standing ovation and vehement booing from various segments of the audience. What has happened to our precious Oscar telecast?

Perhaps the most divisive movie in recent memory, Bowling for Columbine stirred up quite a controversy, attracting legions of supporters and just as many detractors. I'm not going to pussyfoot around when I say that I am mostly in the former camp. Bowling for Columbine is a flawed movie, but dammit, it is exactly the type of movie we need to see made more often, one that asks hard questions about where our society is heading that no one else is brave enough to ask, and that has some fun doing it. Michael Moore is a wicked satirist and a good old-fashioned muckraker, unashamed of slinging dirt without fear of offending an apathetic public or being persecuted by political extremists. Yes, he has a biased viewpoint. He has unabashed Leftist political views, some of which are pretty far off-center, and he admits this openly up front in everything he does. Unlike those who disingenuously complain about his biases as though they expected something else, Moore doesn't hide who he is or what he's trying to achieve.

There, now that I've gotten my own dirty little biases out of the way, let's talk about Bowling for Columbine's merits as a film. To be honest, I don't think it's Moore's best work. He attempts a different approach here than he usually takes, sometimes to mixed results. In Roger & Me, still his best film, or TV Nation, his brilliantly subversive sketch comedy/newsmagazine program, Moore pointed his camera at a target and went after it with the tenacity of a rabid bulldog, never letting up until he had thoroughly ridiculed and humiliated his subject into defeat. But here in this film he doesn't actually have a clear target. Instead, Moore tries to use his skills as a satirist to take a look at what makes the United States as a society such a violent culture, and why other countries around the world with histories even bloodier than our own manage to avoid this predicament. He doesn't actually expect to find any answers, and frankly he doesn't, but he knows a good hot- button topic when he sees one and how to milk it for some great material. If nothing else, Moore has an unfailing eye for spotting and pointing out all the little ironies in life, and the hypocrisies people live in order to justify their actions.

The problem is that the film comes across as unfocused and not as biting in its criticisms as we expect from Moore. In fact, at one point he does pick a target, the K-Mart Corporation for their sale of handgun ammunition, and just after he's started to go after them with his usual zeal they fold, completely giving into his demands. Since this has never happened to him before it leaves Moore flabbergasted, unsure of what to do next. Should he celebrate? Should he make more demands or pick another corporation to attack? What is the appropriate reaction to a success that he knows was born out of misfortune? Where do you go next?

This is not to say that Michael Moore fails to exploit his trademark humor. He manages to take some good swipes at the media for promoting our culture of fear, but is smart enough to realize that he is himself part of that media machine and they can't solely be to blame. He makes fun of bigots, nutcases, and corporate America, and he continues to demonstrate his amazing ability to get complete wackos (like Terry Nichols' brother) to talk on camera and essentially crucify themselves in front of the world. There is also a riotously funny 5-minute Matt Stone cartoon called "A Brief History of the United States of America" in the middle of the picture that is alone well worth the price of owning the movie.

So what is so controversial about Bowling for Columbine anyway? If anything, this ought to be Michael Moore's least controversial film. The movie says that murdering people is bad, and we shouldn't do it. Is that really a controversial message? Who would argue against that? No, what really rankles people is Michael Moore himself. The mere fact of being himself is more than enough to get people to denounce anything he has to say. Such it is with any strong-willed personality, especially one who so defiantly pits himself against the political majority (he has no kind words for either the Democratic or Republican parties) and the hypocrites who proclaim themselves our moral guardians.

The National Rifle Association in particular hates him. Although Moore does criticize the NRA for its behavior in light of not one but two school shootings, he does not vilify the basic tenets of their organization (a citizen's right to bear arms); in fact, he's even a long-time member! However, by the time he faces off against Charlton Heston, there is no spin that Heston could ever put on his comments that will make him seem other than a despicably insensitive monster. Things like that tend to not go over well with political hardliners or their supporters.

But there's something more to it than that, isn't there? There is the matter of how he makes his arguments. Does Moore lie in order to promote his agenda? He has been accused of staging the circumstances of his ambush interviews, misquoting his sources, and using tricky editing to take his subjects' words out of context. Moore addresses many of these claims on his official web site (www.michaelmoore.com), but some of the charges would seem harder to defend, if true. Is the film even really a "documentary", by the strictest definition of the term? A documentary is supposed to be about recording an event, not using it as a forum for voicing one's own agenda. Really, the film is less a documentary than it is a political broadside, but unfortunately the Academy doesn't have a neat little category for things like that, so they labeled it the closest thing they could find.

Yet it's impossible to deny the power of the film. More than anything else the movie has a strongly melancholy tone, mournful of tragedies that have occurred in this country like the Oklahoma City bombing, World Trade Center disaster, and of course the school shooting at Columbine. Footage he managed to obtain from the security cameras in the school is horrifying, emotional and sad. And his return to these locations after the fact to interview survivors about how they've gone on with their lives is often downright wrenching.

The fact of the matter is that Bowling for Columbine is not an Anti-Gun movie as people would have you believe, nor is it an Anti-NRA movie. Bowling for Columbine is really an Anti-Stupid People Using Guns to Shoot Other People movie, and frankly anyone who is genuinely offended by a message like that ought to stop reading this article and do something more productive with their time, like basket-weaving, or yoga, or some other quiet and peaceful activity that doesn't involve any sharp objects. This is not a movie for those people, and personally I don't want to know what is.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Bowling for Columbine was shot with broadcast quality video equipment and then transferred to film for theatrical exhibition. I'm not absolutely certain, but at a guess I'd say this DVD is a probably direct video- to-video transfer without using the intermediary film step. For what it is, the picture quality is fair enough. A number of scenes are sharp and clear, with vibrant colors and rich black level. Then there are other scenes that are soft, murky and heavily grainy. That's just the nature of the movie, and the shifts are neither unexpected nor distracting. Digital compression quality is acceptable, and although a very small amount of edge enhancement does appear on occasion, it rarely proves irritating and will likely only be visible on the largest of video displays.

The movie is presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 with anamorphic enhancement. Sometimes the top and bottom matting looks overly tight; no doubt the cameraman was used to composing for television. The many TV news clips used throughout the movie often look noticeably cropped. On the whole, though, the 1.85:1 framing is workable. Perfect composition was not exactly a high priority for the production, so I'm sure it would look equally fine were it to be unmatted.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The specs say this is a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix and my receiver's front panel lights up accordingly, but the movie still sounds like a documentary. You should know what to expect. The film is mostly dialogue, with only the few songs on the soundtrack providing any sense of dimensionality or surround use. Even some of the songs don't exactly sound right. The number playing over the opening credits sounds strangely hollow and inferior to the version of the same tune used for the DVD's menus. But no matter. It is what it is, and it's fine.

Optional English or Spanish subtitles are available, along with true English closed captioning.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The movie was originally scheduled for an early Spring DVD release, but with its Oscar buzz and eventual win the disc was postponed so that Michael Moore could produce some supplemental content. What we get is mostly a very good and interesting selection of material. If I have one disappointment, it is that really the content on this disc isn't very much fun. I guess I was expecting that the first Michael Moore special edition disc would be loaded with lots of satirical comedy material like we usually see in his TV shows. Instead, what is presented is mostly in keeping with the tone of the movie: sad, mournful, sometimes angry, and only rarely jokey. I say this not as a criticism, but must note it as a matter of setting expectations.

The DVD is dual-sided, with the movie and three features appearing on Side 1. The first feature is a 4-minute audio introduction from Michael Moore, in which he sets the tone for the movie (i.e. very somber) and explains why he chose not to record an audio commentary (his explanation sounds rather like a cop- out, to be honest).

After this is one of the disc's few attempts at comedy, the first-ever Receptionists' and Interns' Audio Commentary. The track begins with another brief introduction from Moore to explain what it's all about, basically that he thought it might be fun to listen to people from the low rungs of the production chain who usually never get to be heard. The concept sounds potentially intriguing or at least entertaining, but sadly it is mostly just annoying. Listening to a group of college-age production assistants sit around and laugh at the movie's jokes while chattering inanely away about their insights into the film gets very old very fast. I made it about 15 minutes before giving up. Maybe it gets better after that. My life is too short to waste finding out. To me this joke commentary feels like a waste of disc space. I am disappointed that Moore chose not to record his own commentary track, where he might directly address some of the criticisms laid out against the movie and his filmmaking techniques. Perhaps that's exactly what he was trying to avoid?

Wrapping up Side 1 is a theatrical trailer.

The bulk of the supplements are on Side 2. We start with the Interview with Michael Moore on his Oscar Win and Acceptance Speech, which lasts about 15 minutes. The Academy wouldn't let Moore use the footage from the actual telecast on this DVD, so instead he describes what happened there (mostly accurately) and recites the speech, or at least as much of it as he was allowed to give at the ceremony before being forced off the stage. As he astutely puts it, "At the end of the day, I'm Michael Moore. What else was I gonna do?"

Then the 25-minute Return to Denver/Littleton featurette is an edited version of a speech Moore gave at the University of Denver six months after Bowling for Columbine was released. He speaks to a packed house, delivering a lecture that was highly politically charged. Hey, he's Michael Moore. What else is he gonna do?

The Film Festival Scrapbook is a 16- minute assemblage of footage from the activities at the Cannes, Toronto and London festivals. The Marilyn Manson music video "Fight Song" lasts only 3 minutes, but with Manson a little bit goes a long way. The video is presented in full- frame video and Dolby 2.0 audio.

One of the best features on the disc is the 21-minute Michael Moore Interview by Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, which was conducted at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. This is a very good, funny interview in front of a live audience, and fans of Moore should be entertained. The Charlie Rose Interview lasts 24 minutes and is a little more serious, but a typically good Rose interview that viewers of his show will appreciate. There is a reason so many of Rose's interviews wind up in DVD supplements.

Finally in the realm of the just plain funny is the "Corporate Cops" segment from Moore's TV show The Awful Truth. Clips from the segment are briefly seen in the movie, but here is the full 7-minute version, complete with appearance by Crackers the Corporate Crime-Fighting Chicken. Now this is the sort of thing that Moore does best.

The last feature on the disc is the cast & crew photo gallery. Ever wonder who those people are you see listed in the movie's end credits scroll? Well, here they are, all of them. Believe it or not, I thought this was a surprisingly nice touch and a fine way to end the disc.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

The packaging and disc menus announce that the disc has two primary PC-enhanced supplements, but frankly they both seem to be tied together as just one big feature. The Teacher's Guide and Michael Moore's Action Guide present a series of questions that teachers might ask students if viewing the film in class, along with essay topics and suggestions for how young people can become politically active. I am divided as to how I feel about this. Is this an earnest attempt to spark discussion and debate about topics presented in the film, or is it a disingenuous attempt to legitimize Moore's highly biased political views in an educational context? I can't quite decide.

Some weblinks to michaelmoore.com and mgm.com are the only other PC content available.

Parting Thoughts

It is a foregone conclusion that no matter what I have written in this column I will be greeted with volumes of hate mail, either from the political Right- Wing for liking anything at all about the film, or the Left-Wing for not liking it nearly enough for their satisfaction. Whichever side you stand on, you have likely already decided whether you are going to purchase the movie before reading this article, even if only to buy up all of the copies in your local area and publicly burn them in a giant bonfire. So my review of the disc's contents is mainly just perfunctory, I suppose. For what it's worth, the picture and sound quality are fine. The supplements are interesting, though they probably won't change the views of anyone who has already locked their opinions in place.

I do wish that, if the disc producers couldn't secure footage from the Oscar telecast, that they had at least tried to present Moore's acceptance speech from the previous night's Independent Spirit Awards instead, where he managed to deliver the full version of the speech that he was forced to shorten at the Oscars. That might have been interesting. I also wish that Moore had taken more of a stance to counter the claims of his detractors. But I suppose we can't have everything.