Elephant

The school shooter is for me the most terrifying perpetrator of a crime. The fear of this is almost primal as any fear for the safety of children should be. Elephant dramatizes elements of the Columbine shooting in a very quiet paced way. It introduces us to a number of victims as they go through the routine of their day and it introduces us to the shooters as they prepare for their spree. It's the pacing that is key. The film is told in a very similar style to another Gus Van Sant film called Gerry. In Elephant characters walk and walk and walk and we follow them from behind. It is quiet and deliberate and a reflection of living in real time. It also leaves us at a disadvantage unable to read the emotions on their faces. The story-time shifts as the characters cross paths and we are allowed to catch up of what one set has been doing as we have been getting to know another set. The violence is harsh but the apathy displayed by the shooters before they hit the school is harsher. One of the shooters is particularly intelligent and well cultured in music and literature. This is the type of student one would like to assume is filled with a natural empathy and yet he is cold, cold blooded. This film has an amazing visual texture and balances oddly between enjoyable and terrifying.
Memorable moment: The three "Heathers" arguing about what number constitutes enough time together.