Abdi Aden: Three-Peat

Bowling for Columbine is a 2002 documentary written, produced and directed by Michael Moore. The documentary shows the story of the Columbine school massacre where 2 kids walked into their high school and began open firing on students and staff. This massacre is similar to the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. Michael Moore explores America’s homicide rate and compares it to different countries one being Canada. In Detroit there were 500 homicides, but just over the bridge was Windsor and it has a very small murder rate. He also shows moments of how easy it is to get a gun in America. A bank in Michigan gives customers the chance to walk out with a gun if they sign up and deposit some money and pass a background check. Seriously? This is ridiculous, what’s next, getting a free gun for signing a library card? There are two sequences that I found very interesting and make the film much more eye popping.  There are 2 montages of the impact guns have had on politicians and people. After looking at the soundtrack the song that is being played in the background is a Beatles song called “Happiness is a warm gun”. I thought that was cool. The film also attacks the behavior of depressed or victims of bullying, and what they potentially can do if lets say people don’t listen or help them. The interview with controversial artist on his own, Marilyn Manson was very interesting. He said something that made me really think more about what less fortunate people have to deal with everyday. Moore asked him “what he would say to those kids before the incident?” and he responded “I wouldn’t say anything to them I would’ve listened and that’s what no one did.” I just said wow after that. The whole interview was well done.

The 9/11 attacks were extremely tragic. Over 3000 people lost their lives because of the attack. This film which is called “9/11”, originally explores the story of a fireman Tony Benetatos. Then suddenly the first plan hit the tower and the brothers were taping it. They captured all kinds of footage, which has shots of the mass panic in New York.  CBS aired the documentary 6 months later after the attack. This attack happened almost 10 years ago. Its funny how time flies by, but the reaction of civilians is what shocks me the most. I mean like if you seen this happen to your city wouldn’t you think it was Armageddon? 

Michael Vick was once a superstar quarter back for the Atlanta Falcons; his current team is the Philadelphia Eagles. This 60 minutes interview takes a deeper look at his fall in football. Michael Vick was accused of having dogfights in his home with his close friends. He later confessed to the crime citing “We used to kill the dogs, electrocute them, drown them and starve them if they lost a battle”. Animal Cruelty is a huge crime in society. He served a 23-month sentence for his crime. When he was released, he now is dedicating his life to helping others in need. He developed his own reality like TV show, showing himself in his new lifestyle. He was also re instated into the NFL and signed by the Eagles. He served as a backup quarterback, but in due time, he came starter once again. I like how they got the ESPN analysts to introduce the blogs and even ask him some of the questions. They got the former Indianapolis Colts coach, Tony Dungie to help rehabilitate Michael Vick as well as get him back into playing shape. The documentary uses extreme close up shots and well as still images to show Vick in his playing days.  There are also some wide-angle shots to show him speaking at a press conference. Even though Vick committed a huge crime, he has paid his debt to society. He is now dedicated 100 percent to football and helping others in need.