Michael Moore's latest documentary is a curious case of slovenly brilliance. The unanimous winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this spring, "Bowling for Columbine" became the first documentary to compete in the competition in 46 years. Ever since 1989's "Roger and Me," Michael Moore has offered us a candid and satirical look at the absurd in American culture.

This time Moore sets a table of critical inquiry over America's gun-craze with servings of media mania and corporate controversy, invites president of the National Rifle Association Charlton Heston, James Nichols (brother of Timothy McVeigh partner Terry Nichols) and Marilyn Manson for candid interviews and lays out the April 1999 Columbine High School tragedy as the centerpiece.

The film takes its title from reports that students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went bowling the morning before they went on their killing spree in Littleton, Colo. "Columbine" follows Moore on his quest to find out why America suffers from an epidemic of murder.

Moore begins his search for answers by opening an account at a Michigan bank that gives new customers a free gun. While flipping though their catalogue of rifles he asks incredulously, "You mean you're a bank and a licensed firearms dealer?"

He then travels to one of the world's largest weapons manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, which is located just a few miles from Columbine High and takes a tour. While there he points out that the United States dropped its largest amount of bombs during the war in Kosovo the morning of the Columbine shootings. Moore also has a very scary visit with Terry Nichols in which Nichols explains just how easy it is to make a bomb and later tells Moore how Timothy McVeigh was "a nice guy" during the months he stayed at Terry's house.

Moore also serves up a few surprises. Dick Clark of "American Bandstand" fame turns out to be not such a nice guy and Charlton Heston reveals he is a racist, while Marilyn Manson (whose music was initially cited as partly to blame for the shootings at Columbine) turns out to be thoughtful and eloquent. He also interviews a few students and a politician in Canada where 7 million guns are present in 10 million households but murder is practically nonexistent about issues such as healthcare, unemployment, welfare, the media and why they think America has such a problem with guns.

While interviewing a college professor who recently wrote a book on what the media chooses to cover and why, the man tells Moore that although gun related violence has decreased by 20 percent in the last 15 years, news coverage of it has increased 600 percent. Half of the film is made up entirely by interviews and that is where Moore shows his genius. Although he sometimes uses the camera as both a pulpit and as a way to bully people, which happens when he takes his crusade to Kmart headquarters, Moore does his best work by simply getting people to speak candidly about their views. Most of what was educational and terrifying in this film actually came from people just answering honestly about what they thought.

What makes "Columbine" a solid film is that Moore does his homework by sighting very interesting facts and statistics. Moore points out that the NRA was founded in 1871, the same year that the KKK was declared an illegal terrorist organization and that 33 million people in the U.S. live in poverty. He illustrates that the requested increase for the U.S. military budget for 2003 is $396 billion, which is more than enough to adequately upgrade every wanting school in America. He also gives statistics showing the U.S. to have had 11,127 firearm homicides in the last year, which was around 100 times the number of as other countries such as Germany, France, Canada and Japan; Japan, in fact, only had 39.

The film is also served well by its editing and music. Moore chooses clips from local and national news stations depicting messages meant to scare and manipulate people. He points out that Americans live in a media culture and contrasts relatively non-dramatic clips from the BBC news with those from the United States in which the anchor's voice carries shrill, alarmed tones and suspenseful music plays in the background.

There is also a wonderfully put together sequence of the history of U.S. bombings and military campaigns in other countries over the years where Moore points out how many foreign people we've killed and how we trained the young men in Afghanistan how to fight against the Soviets. While all of this information flashes on the silver screen, we hear Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" playing in the background.

Moore can either been viewed as taking things too far in this film about violence in America or he can be seen as a whistleblower who does not cut his enemy any unnecessary slack. Rarely clean-shaven and always with his shirt un-tucked, Moore can sometimes come across as a too slovenly and condescending to make an honest documentary. He points his finger sharply at both corporate America and American foreign policy in both the recent Bush and Clinton administrations, which has the potential to make some viewers a little uncomfortable.

Whatever your views, while watching this film it is good to remember that all stories are told with a good deal of personal bias and Moore's is no exception. It remains, however, that "Bowling for Columbine" is an exceptional film that should be seen by anyone who wishes to take being an American or living in America seriously.

"Bowling for Columbine" is a film that is designed to affect its viewers and is hugely successful in this attempt. In my experience, it left most of its audience either walking out of the theater or in thankful applause. While no doubt Moore certainly has his detractors, as will "Columbine," his insights and irony are brilliant. It is unfortunate that this film probably will be missed by those who need to see it most.

The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Anne Hamilton is an overly opinioned film critic who spends far too much time watching movies. She can be contacted at ahamilton@nd.edu.

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