Intermission: 'Columbine,' 'Schmidt' deliver quality entertainment

Jim Wunderle is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

Now that the new year has begun, many of the Oscar contenders that have been in limited release, as well as some of the best older films of 2002, are making their way into the heartland. Two of last year's best, and most poignant, movies have finally arrived in Springfield.

First off, if you have a preconceived notion of what Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" is about, do yourself a favor and see it. With it, Moore has reached his pinnacle as a documentary filmmaker, and you may be surprised to see that he is no rabid gun-control freak. Indeed, he won trophies for shooting as a boy and is a card-carrying member of the NRA.

What Moore deals with here is not so much the issue of controlling guns, but rather the root causes that make America a world leader in annual gun deaths. (Eleven thousand-plus plus compared to 165 in Britain.)

Moore asks many people why they think Americans are so gun violent and sets about showing how the answers just don't add up.

While many politicians blame rock music, violent video games, movies and TV, it's noted that people like Marilyn Manson are huge in Europe, Japan's video games are the most violent on the planet and people everywhere see Hollywood films and American TV.

Other people point to America's history of violence. Remember Hitler? Remember when the sun never set on the British Empire as they ruled with a mighty hand much of the world? Charleton Heston goes so far as to say he believes the problem is our "mixed ethnicity." No comment.

The Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario, is just across the river from Detroit. People in Windsor have trouble remembering the last time someone was killed in their city. All of the interviews with the Canadians are exceptionally insightful.

There are many chapters to the film. Yes, there's the Columbine tragedy. Moore also examines the horrible incident that took place in his hometown of Flint, Mich. A 6-year-old boy took a gun to school and shot a classmate. Moore examines the socio-economic realities about why this boy was unsupervised and why he and his mom were living in a house with a loaded handgun.

Leave it to Moore to show us the side of Marilyn Manson that makes him seem more rational and articulate than mainstream icons like Heston and Dick Clark.

There are also many hilarious moments, including the opening, where Moore opens an account at a bank that will give you a rifle on the spot for a $10,000 CD deposit; and an uproarious animated history of the United States in a "South Park" style.

As a testament to this film's power, "Bowling for Columbine" is the first documentary to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival since the 1950s and won the Anniversary Prize, an award given only every five years.

About Schmidt'

Alexander Payne's sadly amusing "About Schmidt" does the seemingly impossible: It lets a star with Jack Nicholson's stature and history reinvent himself yet again, and this time it's a stunning reinvention.

Warren Schmidt (Nicholson) is newly retired from a long career as an insurance actuary.

Rather than being excited about taking off in the new motor home his wife has insisted they buy, we can tell by the look in his eye and his beleaguered, slump-shouldered gait that Warren is a broken, sad man.

He finds he really can't stand anything about his wife (or his life) of some 40 years, feels lost without his work and is facing the fact his daughter is marrying into a rather bizarre clan of indeterminate breeding.

The only solace he's able to find is when he signs on to sponsor a child in Tanzania and begins writing the boy a series of letters. We hear these epistles in the form of a voice over, and this serves to fill the viewer in on Warren's history and provides many of the film's funnier moments.

Also providing much humor is Warren's interaction with his soon to be in-laws, most notably the divorced mom, played by Kathy Bates.

Besides Nicholson's uncanny transformation, a few of his trademarks are still in effect and no one can telegraph a sense of unease better than Warren Schmidt. Bates, who has yet to turn in a bad performance, may very well win an Oscar for her role.

Like Payne's previous films, "Citizen Ruth" and "Election," "About Schmidt" features a tragically comic hero who doesn't really know where to turn, and every turn he makes seems to make matters worse. Payne manages to balance the pathos with a lot of humor and does so without pandering to his viewer. This is a great film.