I just saw the movie this weekend, and the theater was surprisingly full, even though it's been around for months now. I found the film very troubling, very disturbing, very --- effective, I guess, and affecting. I had trouble sleeping afterwards (I am prone to anxiety these days).

I agree with earlier posts about Michael Moore being brilliant. I agree that the American popular culture, including TV news, and the whole ratings-driven, money-motivated TV culture across the boards, tend to cheapen and degrade life in these United States, and to inculcate and inflame fear. I came away longing for a home where people were valued above profits. on a societal level. Moore makes the point that in Canada, there is high unemployment, but people have access to medical care and decent housing regardless of their income. He showed that the mother of the six year old shooter was a welfare mother who was forced by "welfare-to-work" "welfare reform" to commute hours every day to work two jobs -- so she almost never saw her son, and had to leave him in the care of a relative who obviously wasn't up to the job. One question Moore has asked in interviews is Why does America attack its poor people? It's a great question. He asks a lot of great questions, and he doesn't pretend to have the answers -- which is honest and gutsy, IMHO.

If you haven't seen it, do. But don't expect it to be a fun, escapist night out. It isn't. But it's well worth doing anyway.