Elephant (2003)

I remember watching Michael Moore’s Bowling For Columbine (2002) many years ago and being gripped by the seemingly nonsensical gun laws in the U.S.A, as well as the apparently staggeringly low IQ of Moore’s interviewees. Watching the documentary, it was the first time I became aware of school shootings, and the events of Columbine were truly shocking; made even more appalling by the apparent total lack of reason behind it. Moore’s film was interesting and well researched, and it’s a real shame that everything he’s done since has bored me silly with his insistence on implementing such a one sided attack on his chosen subject matter. However, Elephant, Gus Van Sant’s bone chilling portrayal of the Columbine shooting, is anything but judgmental. Columbine isn’t mentioned by name, indeed the film takes place mainly at a fictional high school in Portland; but we are left in no doubt about Van Sant’s influence here. The film is only around eighty-five minutes long; full of lengthy meandering takes of college corridors that are so heavy with menace the tension is almost unbearable. The performances by the mainly unknown actors are terrific, and the way Van Sant chooses to tell the story by following different characters throughout the day of the shooting is harrowingly effective, the film ends up playing out like a terrifying Venn diagram. Van Sant is no stranger to controversy, and Elephant has its share of detractors, but I thought it was bordering on masterful. It’s not remotely tasteless; it’s horrific but tells it how it seemingly was. 8.5/10