Review of Elephant (1993) by Zach B — 10 Mar 2012

This is one of those films I found not by looking at 'great art films', but by looking up two things that interest me: films that won the Golden Palm d'Or for best film, and the Columbine massacre. While the first one is understandable towards film buffs and geeks alike, the latter interest will puzzle some. Sense my days of middle school when I was first exposed to the documentary 'Bowling For Columbine', something about the incident involving two mentally disturbed teens that had it with being tormented, tortured, and humiliated by their peers and teachers killing and wounding masses have intrigued me to the point that I studied the entire incident to an excessive amount. One thing I was looking up were films that deal with school shootings. What I came to was this film by Gus Van Sant that won the Palm d'or; the same award won by Pulp Fiction and, as of recent, Tree Of Life.

The first time I saw this film, I was in awe with how Van Sant directed this film, how he uses the Steadicam (something Stanley Kubrick perfected with his films) to create the tension and isolation of each character. This film is one that has no real plot, mostly improvised dialogue, and all in the sake of making you feel like you are in high school. This works because it does make you feel like you are alone, walking down deserted hallways, and from the reactions of many who saw this film, I am not alone. Yeah, at times this does get irritating to the point you want to shoot something. But if you relax and let this film take place, what you get is one of the most surreal, tension-building films that is beyond low key.

As I have stated above, most of this film is improvised and this is improvising at it's finest. This film was directed in a way that it mirrors Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon in the sense that this film is shown through the eyes of numerous, unrelated people as we see how or why this violence is even happening. The end result is simple: no one cared no had any idea of the two main killers. They were either hated on, despised, or completely ignored by society in a way that would drive anyone mad. And these young actors, many them having this be their first film they have worked on, do a wonderful job in terms of making this film seem real. With the way this film is shot and how all the dialogue was made on the spot, it does create a raw, authentic, documentary feel that makes this movie even more tragic to watch.

To sum up this film in terms of it's tension this film nails it. From the start you know that a complete massacre will happen at any time, but with about seventy minutes of continuous dialogue, silence, and character building, this movie is one for the patient, intelligent, and clear minded watcher. To watch this film would require you to think openly and be ready to absorb an average day inwhich all hell breaks wide open.