I rented Elephant on the strength of a friend's recommendation to me, my appreciation of Gus Van Sant's work and my desire to watch something different. This was certainly what I got with Elephant, a film whose story is loosely based on the Columbine High School shootings. Elephant is not an ordinary film, and indeed the tagline suggests the same - "An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not."
The film begins slowly, like the gathering calm before the storm, introducing briefly the members of the school as they go about the first half of their day. Throughout this first half of the film we are introduced to typical teen stereotypes. We have the over-snappy photographer, the geeky girl who works as a library assistant, the tall black basketball player, the popular guy and the popular girls. Then there are the two killers who, not surprisingly, like guns and violence. This is conveyed to us by shots of them playing violent video games, looking at gun fascination websites and a shot of them watching a documentary on Nazi Germany and Hitler. What else then can Van Sant do to present these two boys as believable students turned psycho killers? By placing them beyond the social spectrum of course, making them bullied at school and closet gay lovers. This was the final straw for me.
Everything before the actual shootings was fake, simplistic and terribly clichéd. There was not a moment within the entire film that I thought that the acting was anything more than sub-standard. This is perhaps because Van Sant chose non-actors to play his characters and much of the action is merely improvised, leaving it seeming more forced and unreal than the natural effect the director would have intended. Furthermore, the fragmented shooting structure of following around the different characters was no doubt intended to make us feel closer to the people, and make them seem more human, making their deaths seem more tragic, but it was alienating and confusing, not knowing which character the director intended the viewer to relate to.
Perhaps this was the director's intention but if it was it certainly didn't work for me.
The only good thing about this film was the shootings. I don't say this as an advocate of guns or violence or because I didn't feel any connection with any of the characters, but because of the harrowing emptiness with which the sequences are shot. In this film, as with the real event at Columbine, there are no heroes to save the day, there is no happy ending and there is no hope, and this idea, as morbid as it is, is beautifully captured in the cold but brilliant shots of Eric and Alex unemotionally shooting their schoolmates. It is especially effective in the library scene and the scene at the cafeteria, which juxtaposed with an earlier scene where it was bustling with activity, is now completely empty and silent.
Gus Van Sant's directorial style is as difficult to get in to as Joyce's writing style, but his subject matter is most certainly interesting, and while I can't say that I liked this movie, or that I will ever watch it again, I would recommend it to anyone wanting to watch something different and to provoke a thought process that is rarely provoked.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Thanks for letting me know about the change to "Film Only". Re-Rated as promised.
Soho_Black 31.03.2006 18:39
I see you've posted this as a DVD review, but you've not mentioned the DVD. Are there any extras? If so, what are they and are they any good? If you add to this, or if you change it to be posted as a "Film Only" review, which can be done by accessing "edit review" in the top right of the review and changing the drop down menu under the "Which format are you reviewing?" question at the bottom, please let me know and I'll re-rate.
Vheissu 24.03.2006 19:27
i've wanted to see this one for ages (films like this always grab my attention for some reason), and despite your evident dissapointment, i'll probably still hunt it down at sometime. Alex
Elephant, the elegant and unsettling movie from Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho,Good ... more
Will Hunting), depicts students at a high school before and during a harrowing, Columbine-style shooting. The movie follows one young boy who takes over the wheel f...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Elephant, the elegant and unsettling movie from Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho,Good ... more
Will Hunting), depicts students at a high school before and during a harrowing, Columbine-style shooting. The movie follows one young boy who takes over the wheel f...
Postage & Packaging: free Super Saver Delivery Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Inspired by the tragic events at Columbine High School, Elephant won both the Palme D'Or ... more
and Best Director prizes at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Shooting on location in an everyday American High school, with a cast primarily made up of students from...
![Elephant [DVD] [2004]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78512281.jpg "Elephant [DVD] [2004]")
Mar 24th, 2006
(Apr 2nd, 2006)
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