American Gun

Great film exploring the many sides of the gun control issue from personal perspectives in a narrative format.

Low keyed but powerful. So many stories in one film. Outstanding acting by lead cast especially Forrest Whitaker as a deeply torn school principal whose job has impacted his own family as he seeks to better the lives of his students. Marcia Gay Harden is superb as the mother of a school shooter who must pick up her life for the sake of her other son who also struggles with a terrible legacy. The rest of the cast is also excellent as they portray people whose lives are touched by violence in many forms. I really enjoyed this movie.

image quality is horrible

I don't like it anymore take my money back please

Great DVD and arrived in a timely manner!!

One of the best independent movies I've seen. Surprisingly effective & powerful drama about a critically important subject that mainstream corporate media producers would never touch.Great cast, fine script, excellent production values for an indie film. Well worth seeing, especially today.Not to be confused with the other movie titled, American Gun' starring James Coburn, which is also a very fine film on the same subject.

Very powerful thought provoking stories

The oddest thing about this film is probably its name. The stupidity and violence depicted in it were so typical and so general in nature that it seems apparent the title and the propaganda around it were generated by someone other than those who created the film itself. If I had named the film, it would have been something more like "Stupidity and Violence" (perhaps "American Gun" sounds more provocative.)The greatest stupidity is that people have been educated--particularly in compulsory government institutions--to ignore the reality that people must be held responsible for their own actions. An extension of that is that if people cannot accept responsibility for their own actions, they have difficulty, without some guilt, holding others responsible for their mistakes and aggression. In come firearms, and the responsibility that comes with owning and operating them. Because people have a hard time dealing with the reality of individual responsibility, they choose to hold inanimate objects such as weapons responsible for the actions of foolish and aggressive people.This can account for the absurd term "gun violence." No gun ever did violence to anyone. Foolish or unthinking people do, and they do it with and without weapons, and if with a weapon, only sometimes is a firearm involved. The film itself depicts this by showing a number of senseless acts, committed with and without weapons--sometimes knives. What's more, it shows individuals who could benefit from personal protection, but being denied it by laws which are supposedly written to protect us. Every day, far more people defend themselves with firearms than hurt others with them, and because those instances are not reported in media, the violence they stop or avoid altogether is unseen. The economist John Lott explored this effect in "More Guns, Less Crime" where he demonstrates that, counter-intuitively, communities with fewer gun laws are safer and less violent (crime goes down after firearms laws are loosened.) This is because aggressive firearms legislation virtually guarantees that the "bad guys" are well armed, and that responsible individuals are deprived their natural right of effective self defense.One could more easily site the stupidity of government run schools (around which much of the violence seems centered--ironically, "gun free zones") or ineffective and improperly tasked law enforcement, as to site firearms as the problem. Thus we see the difference in viewpoint illustrated. If you're a leftist, you blame guns. If you're a right-wing zealot, you blame lawlessness. If you're libertarian, you blame stupidity, a lack of individual responsibility, and a society that inhibits choice and independence--from government schools and a bleating media, radiating outward.If one views the "making of" one sees that many of the participants "get it," so there's hope. What's more, the intelligent viewer sees the difference between the message on the box and the message on in the medium. They know that the story was about people's choices, not a tool that is occasionally abused by some and routinely used by many others to maintain peace and discourage violence. In fact, one actress comments on the difference between the two cultures and the way they view and respect (or disrespect) firearms.I would have given the film about 3 stars for the overall quality of the message and the performance (there were some disturbing camera effects which I attribute to artistic choice, and they detracted from the viewing experience, and I found some of the characterization and dialog weak, though the story was fairly good), but I was so disgusted by the title and the attempt to preprogram the audience with the overt messages on the cover that I thought it better merited two. If you decide to view or purchase this film, please keep the aforementioned thoughts in mind.

Realista ,puesta en escena de algo que la sociedad america vive muy a diario, y de como el tener un arma en cas puede desencadenar mas problemas que soluciones

a great watch... deep interlinking story lines! I would recommend to all film lovers, Forest Whitaker is brilliant and impressive performance from all.