Elephant (2003)

Powerfully Pointless

To all those who have vomited forth gushing reviews about the "poignant" snapshot of modern adolescence: Get out more. Visit your local high school and observe. You may learn something about real life.

Something labeled "indie" does not automatically have artistic value.

Thanks to movie and tv content if not real life experience, children of high-school age know what gunshots sound like.
Most individuals of any age would have enough sense to put their head down, run away, or hide.
I do not believe that the average high-schooler is as stupid as this film portrays them to be.

At no time would the killers under U.S. law have been able to obtain firearms in the manner that is depicted.
I am surprised that of nearly 300 reviews only one other reviewer has pointed this out. This demonstrates the ignorance of the general public regarding firearm ownership.

This is an excellent example of a director who really wants to make a statement - i.e., "i don't like guns".
The problem is, there is no substance to this film. Factual evidence? There is none. Plot? Nope. Art? Are you kidding me? In short, it is a blase propaganda piece; and a terribly unmoving one. July 26, 2008

A Triumph in Modern Cinema and an Ode to American Youth.

As everybody knows, this film was inspired by the Columbine High School Massacre that took place in Columbine, Colorado, 1999.

The film does not have a classic plot. It simply follows the last minutes of a group of high school kids before two of them enter the school "armed to the teeth" and start shooting anything that moves. Some of them get killed. Some will survive.

Simple as that.

But the film is more than JUST that.

FIRST, it is a very inventive narrative exercise as we follow several characters' point of view whose path crosses other characters' paths we previously have seen. At one time, you'll get the idea the screenplay is constructing a big puzzle that will only be complete when the shooting begins - which it does.

SECOND, I found those characters fascinating. Even without a plot, Gus Van Sant is able to touch us with the unique experience of some characters. The first five minutes or so, when John (played by the beautiful John Robinson), a kid whose father seems to be an alcoholic, cries without knowing why is very eloquent and clear about the unseen inside of those characters.

THIRD, there is an ambiance of... it's hard to describe... loneliness, isolation, inner disorder... that we only find in the best horror/thriller films. And strangely enough we find it here, in a film like this (not horror nor a thriller). In fact, I believe anyone interested such genres, should take a look at this film and be amazed.

FOURTH: the film really gets your attention in the end, when the whole thing happens... randomly, unexpectedly...

In retrospect, I think this is one the most important works of the decade and, in a certain way, it says a lot about today's youth in America: beautiful when it's beautiful and really monstrous when it goes downhill.

As a non-American (I'm in Europe), two scenes stuck me like lightning (for obvious reasons): the one when the three girls go vomit after lunch (I wasn't expecting that one! - laughs) and the one where two boys order a fire weapon by mail and get their kicks from shooting chopped wood in a garage.

That scene alone should make America rethink its attitude about guns... or some day such attitude might rethink America. July 7, 2008

Eenie meeni miny mo.

Two students walk through a schoolyard with military fatigues, zipped-up rifle bags and death on their minds. Before them, a wide range of students eat lunch, gossip about social outings, and read library books, all completely unaware of what is about to transpire.

Then, the first shot rings out, echoing down the school corridors and causing all to pause as the unthinkable becomes a reality.

Elephant is a film that is ruthless and overwhelmingly hard to stomach. We are drawn into the world of a number of teens and watch them as they carry on their daily activities, all with the knowledge that at some point in this day, we, the audience, will encounter the gunmen face-to-face along with these students. Amidst the faces are a number of teens which include:

* a outcast female intellectual
* a popular prep and his girlfriend
* an introspective student photographer
* a middle of the pack underclassman
* the two gunmen

It is from their view that we witness the events that surround this suburban school on what could have been just another normal.

In light of the recent shootings around America (one of which took place at my college a few months ago), the subject matter is extremely painful to watch. I cannot recommend this film to everyone, but for those wanting to see another view as to how these things transpire and why, Elephant offers a bit more into that realm. Most of all, Elephant helps show the dichotomy of class structure within US schools and it is here, where we witness the haves and the have-nots, that we begin to find the root of what these acts take place.
July 1, 2008

No explanation's the best explanation

This is the closest thing to poetry that any movie has every achieved. After the Columbine tragedy, any movie to do with school shootings that gives an explanation for the killings would be juvenile and insulting. But what Gus Van Sant does is create a similar situation with false leads that essentially creates an environment where a horrible thing like this can happen for no reason (or no reason that we know of). The beauty of this movie is in the irony. The hauntingly accurate depictions of a normal high school that delves into hell for a single day but then politely takes its seat again with the rest of the world. This movie illuminates how society can ball up and spit out a situation of such intensity and horror just because... May 26, 2008

Life~ it happens.....

This movie is about a school shooting. Two high school boys plot to shoot other students and teachers.

Its a simple concept, the beauty is the simplicity of the movie. It made me feel like I was right there, watching it happen.

Good movie, scary reality! May 18, 2008

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