Elephant Review

"Yeah, you did, and I should shoot you right now for it, you know I should. But I think I just might let you live, maybe, because I want you to know this... and the next kids that come up to you with their problems... that they're being picked on, you should listen to them... no matter what twisted sh*t they say."

- Eric Deulen "Elephant"

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Released in 2003 under the direction of Gus Van Sant and distributed by Fine Line Features on a budget of $3 million; "Elephant" is the second film of Gus Van Sant's Death Trilogy. This Death Trilogy is a trio of films made by Gus Van Sant between 2002 - 2005, all of which loosely based on the deaths of actual people. "Gerry" (anybody who keeps their Brows Held High should be familiar with this one) is about the death of David Coughlin who went hiking with his friend where they got lost and wandered the desert and "Last Days" was based off the final days and suicide of musician Kurt Cobain. Today's film is based loosely off the Columbine High School Massacre, but this film in particular, was renown for receiving the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Does it deserve that honor or is it just a pretentious reminder of the horror that occurred down in Colorado?

On a cloudy day in an unspecified suburban town, John (John Robinson) is being driven to school from his drunken father, causing him to be late and get in trouble with the principal. While walking to class, he runs into Elias (Elias McConnell) a photographer trying to build up his portfolio and poses for a picture while Michelle (Kristen Hicks) a young woman who is constantly teased by her peers for having an unattractive body, especially by bulimic gossipers Brittany, Jordan and Nichole (Brittany Mountain, Jordan Taylor and Nichole George), runs past them to head to the library. John leaves the school to check on his father when two students carrying heavy bags and wearing cam gear pass by, telling him that "Heavy sh*t's about to go down." The two young men who look like they are up to no good is Alex and Eric (Alex Frost and Eric Deulen), two students who have been bullied have been pushed to the brink where they have decided to purchase guns and set up propane bombs to go off. 

It's hard to really describe the story itself because there is no central character. There is no central protagonist for us to follow, in fact, the characters I mentioned above were just a few of the people Gus Van Sant chooses to follow and explore their characteristics. Since this is based on an actual event, we're pretty much just waiting for the inevitable. That is the major flaw for this film I think, you're going into this film already knowing what to expect since it was based on something that got media coverage for weeks. 

So then what can you expect to see in this movie? What you don't expect really.

The movie spends a lot of time following many of the teens around the school through lengthy steadicam tracking shots, anyone whose had to suffer through high school knows how walking from class to class can be a journey in itself through the large hallways, passing by students who may say hello and be friendly or whisper and gossip nasty things about you behind your back. It's a haunting and grim reminder of high school, a reminder of High School as a prison than "the best time of your life." The movie feels real, which is appropriate since many of the teenagers seen in this film were mainly non-professional actors or for some, this was their debut. 

The massacre itself is mostly kept in the dark since we hear gunfire and occasionally see someone getting shot, the movie wisely choosing to let our imaginations create those unpleasant images.

Since story is so simplistic, each character story is played one at a time, even running into one another as they walk throughout he hallways or across the fields culminates with the climactic shooting spree. You got the gossip girls, the photographer guy, the guy with family issues, a black guy and the two shooters themselves. The script itself wasn't written until production began so many of the teens you see in this film were told to improvise and were open to collaborate with Gus Van Sant during the production of the movie, from two teens throwing a frisbee back and forth to a guy break-dancing, those weren't in his script but Gus Van Sant included them to bring a sense of life in the movie.

The movie was filmed in Oregon on the Adams High School (or Whitaker Middle School according to Wikipedia) campus that had been closed down due to structural problems. I dunno about you, but it all looked fine to me, a shame too cause the school didn't look that broken, but I won't judge safety. Nevertheless, the simplistic locality brings a feeling or familiarity. Everyone has gone to High school at some point or another and this is made all the more offsetting to see these two young men waste their lives away as they attack their fellow students.

Bottom Line: Roger Ebert described the movie as being "chilling," and indeed it is rather chilling when you witness these two boys easily acquiring firearms online and in the mail. But the movie isn't trying to make a statement against gun violence, but to try and understand the issues with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and their motivation for what they did. Even though the entirety of the movie's characters are limited down to just one scene of jocks throwing a spitball at Alex, the look on his face to this act tells all. "Elephant" is a profound movie that takes it's viewers back to the empty and lonesome time of high school to show, from several differing viewpoints, the impact of violence. I think I can see why this movie received the Palme d'Or for being unafraid to show this to audience still reeling from 9/11 and the Columbine Massacre.

Normally I would give this movie a rating, but, honestly, I feel you can't rate a horrible incident that actually happened on a 1-10 scale. All I can really do is say "good job Gus Van Sant," you made a movie no one wanted to make at a time when it was still too painful to really come around to talk about it." There were a lot of other movies about the Columbine Massacre at the time, but I can't help but feel Gus Van Sant captured the human element of high school from the perspective of the victims than the shooters. If you're curious to see this movie, you can find it on YouTube, just make sure you don't have anything planned if you have the patience to sit through it...