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By
DEBORAH NICOL
When the 1999 Columbine
shootings occurred, many adults were left in
disbelief. Frightened and frantic, most felt the
need to label the shooters as purely evil, and few
felt the need to expose broader problems. The
media wanted ultimate answers -- reasons to
explain what seemed unexplainable. With everyone
tackling individual pieces of the puzzle, no one
would examine the animal in its entirety. It was
not a rope, a snake, a spear...but a living,
breathing, unavoidable elephant. Thus the
unfocused focus of Gus Van Sant's jarring film
"Elephant."
With students improvising as students, a day in the
life of an Oregon high school is brought together
in strips of light. There is no script, but a mere
outline to guide the overlapping stories. There is
no score, except for the use of music concrète to
bring natural sounds into the foreground, and the
lilting strains of a killer playing the piano. The
camera follows each student with no interference,
a silent observer of daily routine.
Various high school caricatures are revealed, yet
without the usual stereotypical trappings. A boy
arrives late to school after taking over the wheel
from his drunk dad, another delves into the
individuality of each person he meets through
photography, a pretty couple discuss their
immediate plans, an awkward recluse merely tries
to finish her day without incident, a trio of
scarf-and-barf princesses discuss their close
friendship, and two boys plan to change
everything.
Students are viewed causing the usual hardships
upon one another, but there are no extremes to
pinpoint. The high school is rounded out with
caring teachers, especially those leading a gay
alliance discussion group. With no teachers to
blame and the bullies only dishing out the usual
thoughtless annoyances, it is the fragility of
surviving as a teenager without the foresight of
seeing an easier future that is left naked to the
camera's lens. Outward shells are chipped away,
until all that is left is a brittle skeleton that
can bear no more weight.
Van Sant chose to film in 1:33 ratio in order to
best frame the school hallways, but a 1:85 option
is also available for viewing. DVD extras include
a making-of featurette and trailer. This is an
important film revealing the significance of the
minutiae of life. |
