Elephant
Aroview: A smoothly crafted, but troubling depiction of the Columbine High School massacre in which two disaffected teenagers planned and staged the multiple shootings of their fellow school pupils in 1999.
Tracking the movements of various individuals around the bland corridors of an 'Anyschool', this unfolds slowly into the banality, rituals and tensions of the school day in a manner that aims to mesmerise through its neutral repetitions and small observations.
Though its poetry and experimental quality have been admired, the glossy formality of this approach is not always effective, and the climax is curiously muted. Certainly a return to form for the director, one senses the final word on the Columbine tragedy has yet to be written (or filmed). Note: the title is taken from the stylistically similiar, but otherwise unrelated Alan Clarke telemovie from 1989.
Cannes - Palm D’Or 2003
Member Reviews
Average rating
(Very Good). Showing 1-3 of 4 member reviews.
4 stars (Very Good) Just an ordinary day at an ordinary American high school, you wouldn't notice anything amiss. As we observe the students' comings and goings it becomes more obvious that each of the characters experience is quite different from the next. Very clever. ~GenXGirl
4 stars (Very Good) ~Anon
5 stars (Exceptional) Beautiful and clever movie. I recongnise all of the characters from my high school. Not really a violent movie, the shooting is very matter of fact and emotionally detached, just like the games the young men play. Watch it more than once. ~rat1512
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DVD Features
- 'making of' documentary / featurette
- extra stuff
- trailers
- aspect ratio: 1.85:1
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