'Elephant' review

Originally written the week of Jan. 7th/04

Rating: ***1/2 out of ****

Winner of the Palm D’or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003, Gus Van Sant’s ‘Elephant’ was met with controversy over its astonishing resemblance of the Columbine shootings. Many people believed that it was too soon for a film so closely resembling the Columbine shootings top is made. Others believe that an event such as that one, someone was going to make a movie about it. Beliefs aside, ‘Elephant’ is a great film, strictly from a critical standpoint.

What I found amusing was that Van Sant covered his bases against such accusations. At no point does he say this film is dedicated to, or made for, those who died in Columbine or any other school shooting for that matter. At the end it has the classic disclaimer: “The events, places and people in this film are fictitious, etc.” This is a clear indicator that the film is in no way a retelling of Columbine. It was just a day at any random high school where two kids decided were pushed over the edge.

Many people will feel that Van Sant has a moral responsibility to explain the motives involved in the killings, and he obviously does not agree. Van Sant has no such responsibility. It’s just his job to tell a story, which he did. He told a story of a day at a school where people ended up dying at the hands of fellow students. The students’ motives were incidental.

My favorite aspect of the film was realistic tone portrayed through the lack of music. The silence makes us feel like we are roaming the halls with these children and when the shooting begins; it gives the violence an eerie realism. There was no glorification of killing in this film, and it did not purposely try to make it too disturbing. It was just systematic killing. They just showed us what happened in that school and that’s that. No beating around the bush, but not trying to scare us either.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little unsatisfied with the film, and I don’t know why. At first I didn’t like the sudden cut-off ending, but upon a second viewing I understood it and enjoyed it more. I really enjoy how Van Sant made us feel like we were right in the experience. But still for some reason I felt as if there was something missing from the film, which I will have to ponder.