In defense of
Michael Moores bullying of
Charlton Heston, it should be mentioned that Heston had given his usual
From My Cold Dead Hands-speech at a
NRA rally in the very town where
Kayla Rolland was shot, only two days after her death. Just like he did in the wake of the
Columbine shootings.
In the interview, Heston claims that he was not aware that the six year old girl had been killed. When Michael Moore asks whether or not he would still have held the rally if he had been aware of the situation, Heston first tries to brush Moore off. When Moore still pushes for an answer, Heston finally replies "I don't know". Moore then goes on to ask why Heston and the NRA always show up in cities where such gun-related tragedies take place, within a matter of days of the killings. At this point, Heston gets up and leaves.
Moore doesn't bring out the photograph until after Heston has walked out on the interview, catching up with him to show the picture. Before leaving Heston's home, Moore places the picture at the main entrance.
A thing that really struck me about this movie was how old and tired Michael Moore appeared to be. The first time I experienced Moore's work was when a Danish tv channel ran TV Nation around four or five years ago, and in Bowling for Columbine, he seemed to have lost some of his deeply provocative and confrontational attitude that made TV Nation so funny. He seems to have grown more thoughtful, but also less optimistic, bordering on sad. With this movie, Moore sets out to investigate why Americans kill each other so often, but he doesn't find an answer. It's depressing, but it's also the major reason why this film is such a powerful work. I urge everyone to see it if they get the chance, whether they are Americans or not.