Finally I got to see this at the London Film Festival screening this evening, and it’s fantastic.
Of course I managed to show up without my tickets. I was convinced that I had left them at work, but of course I brought them back with me on Friday night, and had left them in my jacket pocket. Anyway, a bit of gentle persuasion did it’s bit (I’m getting used to this – I had to do similar to get on a plane at Schiphol Airport on standby a couple of weeks ago when we were stranded there following storms), and I got in. And this was despite the enormous queue out the front of the cinema of people awaiting returns.
But back to the film. Stunning. Lots of desperately sad facts and people, but interlaced really cleverly with humour. My favourite quote was from the brother of one of the Oklahoma bombers: “The pen is mightier than the sword…. but it’s still good to have a sword around.” This was followed a little later by: “There are some real whackos out there.” We were fortunate to have Michael Moore comeby and answer a few questions after the film.
I couldn’t really begin to do the film justice in these few lines, with so many issues that it raised.
The link between arms production and gun crime.
The ease of purchases of guns.
The culture of using violence to sort out the US’s national problems.
The arming of people who later become our enemies.
The sheer number of guns out there.
Charlton Heston and the NRA.
What do American kids have that kids from other countries don’t.
The media depiction of black violence, and violent crime.
I could go on, and maybe I’ll have another rant later, when I’ve digested this important film more fully.