Fear Factory


It’s late, so this is gonna be quick, but I wanted to say two things. The first is about the previously-viewed Bowling For Columbine DVD I bought two days ago from Blockbuster: tonight I watched both sides of it, and the scuffs I feared would cause a playback problem, didn’t.
The second thing is about the Bowling for Columbine DVD. If you watched this movie in theatres like I did, and haven’t seen the DVD yet, go rent it. The special features are great. Michael Moore returns to Denver/Littleton six months after the release of Bowling, and gave a great speech to a packed house of 6000 about the film, and the intent he had with it. And although the Academy wouldn’t give him the rights to show the footage from the 2002 Oscars, he describes the whole experience to DVD viewers in wonderful detail. In response to the criticism for his non-traditional (some say “inappropriate”) Oscar acceptance speech — where he publicly criticizes president George W. Bush — Michael Moore explains why he thinks his speech was entirely appropriate.
Oh, and there’s a bonus thing, and it’s something I haven’t fully explored yet: you know how DVDs usually have an audio commentary track you can lay over the film while it’s playing? And how those commentaries are typically done by the director, or an actor, or a costume designer, or someone like that? Well, on the DVD for Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore gets the folks on the lowest rungs of the ladder in the film production — the interns, the secretaries, the box-movers — to do the narration. I’ve only listened to about 20 minutes of it so far, but I’m really looking forward hearing the rest. I think a big reason I find the commentary so interesting is because these are people around my age, and — although this may be oversimplifying things — I think most people in my age group feel a degree of apathy about their ability to effect change. I know I’ve been there before. So I’m curious to see if there are hints of that in there. Are you twenty-something? Are you apathetic about politics? Is it just me? What causes violence in America?


Comments

3 responses to “Fear Factory”

  1. Jeff Avatar

    I think Florida proved that one vote does make a difference, but not as much as the courts.

  2. Neil Avatar

    “..ability to effect change. ”
    hopefully you’ll be able to affect the incorrect grammar 😀

  3. jeff — no doubt! i’m sure it’s going to get interesting around here in the next few months.
    neil, i think i’m on okay ground there — check out the transitive verb definition.