Why is it that every year, there are ten times more gun deaths per capita in the USA than in Canada? This is the question asked by Michael Moore’s new movie, Bowling for Columbine, and the answer isn’t as obvious as you’d think.

Canada has a similar number of guns per capita as the USA. Moore asks why Americans use theirs so often against each other, exploring the paranoia that motivates Americans to arm themselves and makes them so trigger-happy.

The film is sometimes shocking, often hilarious. Moore gets a free gun for opening an account at a bank. He asks Charlton Heston why he had an NRA rally in Denver, 10 days after the Columbine shootings. He shows horrific security camera footage of the massacre. Among his other interviews are Marilyn Manson and the one guy they couldn’t convict in the Oklahoma City bombing. “If you’re not armed, you’re in dereliction of duty”, says one Michigan Militia man.

It’s scary, it’s sad, it’s extremely funny, and despite all that, it’s worth seeing just because you’ll laugh your ass off at the way in which we Canadians are portrayed.

The truly tragic thing is, this gem that should be seen by all won’t be seen by many. Even in our city which I like to think of as evolved, it’s only playing at the AMC. In Washington, DC, it’s playing in three theaters. It’s rated R, so teenagers won’t see it.

See this movie.