6. Bowling for Columbine - Michael Moore
With the most accolades of any documentary film (it won almost 30 industry awards) Bowling for Columbine was a real sensation upon its release. Highlighting some major issues in US society, not least its notorious gun laws, Moores documentary has been latterly rubbished. And then some. Amongst its failings are the manipulation of interviews and speeches to alter their meanings, the false portrayal of a scene in a bank where it appeared anyone could just open an account and get a free gun, and a notorious distortion of the truth as regards President Bush political ad campaign with running mate Dan Quayle. All in all, how Moore received the Academy Award for this documentary is simply bamboozling. For it is in Bowling for Columbine where Moore is at his most liberal with the truth. In fact, the truth doesnt matter to Moore one bit in this film. Perhaps the most blatant of all howling lies in Bowling for Columbine was the now infamous interview with National Rifle Association President, Charlton Heston's. Hestons famous "I have only five words for you: 'from my cold, dead, hands" remark was craftily re-edited and spliced in with footage of a Denver demonstration mixed in with news of weeping children outside of the Columbine school. However, the Denver event had nothing to do with Columbine, although Moores documentary would make you think it was a direct response to it. This entire montage within the documentary doesnt just give a false impression, it fundamentally steers the viewer into believing something real has happened when it has not. Documentary films are honourable branches of the wider film industry. They struggle for budgets, crew members are often unpaid even after the film gets its festival release. Documentary-filmmakers work harder than anybody else in the movie business. For gadfly Moore to be their most decorated ambassador is little short of a disgrace.