Kirsten and I went to see Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine yesterday... and it's freaking genius, and is a MUST SEE. "Spoilers" within.

There's seriously not enough positive things I can say about this film. It impressed upon me the weird culture that is the United States, where paranoia and fear of run rampant.

Canada was woven into the film as a stark contrast to its southern neighbour... Moore tells his viewers that here in Canada, we have 7,000,000 guns in 10,000,000 households.... and 165 shooting deaths in an average year. There's one moment in the film, where he talks to the police in Windsor, ON, and asks them how many shooting deaths there have been in the past 3 years. Their answer? 1. And he was from Detroit.

Though it does make some generalizations about Canada that aren't necessarily true, the overwhelming theme of the movie is that the US lives in a culture of fear, unlike any other in the world (brilliant insertion of a Bush speech about 'an unspecified threat').

Finally, bringing in the Canadian factor yet again, the film was produced by the Canadian company Salter Street Films (notorious for such offerings as This Hour has 22 Minutes). I wonder... would a US production company have taken on such a film?