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MovieMail's Review
Gus Van Sant has given us the closest thing to a fly-on-the-wall documentary without it actually being so. The spoken word is kept to an absolute minimum, defying the usual cacophony that one is used to within the Hollywood mainstream. The most important aspect of the script (or lack of it) is what is not said, rather than what is. The 'events as seen from different perspectives' is something that has been done many times before, but rarely with such accomplishment.
In American films one is used to seeing an almost panic-stricken school environment, in which everyone is louder than the clothes they wear, and where everyone seems to suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Here though, everything is deliberately understated,and with astonishing effect. The characters are utterly believable, you can almost imagine yourself being there, knowing them; and if you don't know them, you want to! This is helped by the almost claustrophobic camera-work which makes you feel as if you are actually following the students around the school. You can almost believe you are the one doing the filming.
Of course, we know from the outset what is going to happen; and, oddly, that adds to the suspense. In total contraposition to knowing 'who did it' before actually seeing the Mousetrap, the knowing is almost unbearable. You're torn between wanting them to get on with and not wanting then to do it at all. Which perfectly plays into our inner demons.
It's a superb piece of cinematography, script-writing, and direction; and any self-proclaimed film buff who doesn't have this on their shelf should resign their love of proper, meaningful, insightful, film.
This controversial film by Gus van Sant portrays two days in the life of a suburban American high school that is set to become the scene of a Columbine-style massacre. Semi-improvised, using unknown teenagers rather than professional actors, the film adopts a fly-on-the-wall approach that surveys the various cliques and social strata of the school in a non-judgmental, documentary-like way. Against this background, two misfit friends, Eric (Eric Deulen) and Alex (Alex Frost), who spend their free time collecting Nazi iconography and playing ultra-violent video games, are coolly planning an armed ambush on the school, drawing working diagrams of the school refectory during study period and buying weapons over the Internet. A fictional companion piece to Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, Elephant won the Palme D'Or Award at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
Watching the extraordinary Elephant again I am amazed at the skillful way the director, Gus Van Sant, builds the tension throughout the fateful school day. Most people... more >
Watching the extraordinary Elephant again I am amazed at the skillful way the director, Gus Van Sant, builds the tension throughout the fateful school day. Most people will be aware of the film's subject, an all too familiar story of disaffected teenagers taking out their frustration on classmates with automatic weapons, but the construction of the film allows the viewer to build a map of classrooms, pupil's positions and events so that, when the attack eventually comes, this knowledge makes it all the more devastating. < less
Winner of the Golden Palm at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Gus Van Sant's Elephant is a brilliant and deeply affecting film that makes a courageous attempt to grasp t... more >
Winner of the Golden Palm at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Gus Van Sant's Elephant is a brilliant and deeply affecting film that makes a courageous attempt to grasp the malaise of today's youth culture. Van Sant does not attempt to explain Columbine or uncover its underlying causes. Rather, his film is a highly stylized, dreamlike tone poem that defies linear conventions and is almost surreal in its approach. Using flashbacks and recurring images from different points of view, the film captures the mood and tone of its adolescent world: its perceptions, its self-absorption, and ultimately its darkest instincts.
The camera is a detached observer, and the strength of the film lies in its acute power of observation and detail. Van Sant shows us all the surface rituals: the girl cheerleaders, the boys playing football, the locker-lined hallways, the academic discussions, yet an ineffable feeling of loneliness pervades. The school appears without life -- a place where one feels a desperate sense of loss. The main protagonists, Alex (Alex Frost) and Eric (Eric Deulen) are modeled after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine. When we first meet Alex, he is being shunned by his fellow students, called names and pelted with spitballs in science class. Alex is more outgoing and creative, Eric more passive, but their personalities complement each other.
Rather than giving us pat answers, Van Sant bases his approach on the elusiveness of truth, and our insatiable desire to know more. The imagery and camerawork are almost painfully beautiful, while the disconnected narrative deliberately withholds closure. On top of all this, the pacing is superb, slowly building up the almost unbearable tension. When it is finally released, the explosion hits you with a frightening energy that is as unforgettable as it is chilling.
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