Year: 2003
Director: Gus Van Sant
Country: U.S
Language: English
To most people, Gus Van Sant is mostly known for his Academy Award Winning films like Milk, My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting. While his Trilogy of Death is also well known, it seems to get much less acclaim. The trilogy consist of three films: Gerry, Elephant, and Last Days. Strangely I started watching his filmography with Gerry and Elephant, two incredibly polarizing films that will leave you breathless for better or for worse.
The film follows a day in the lives of a group of average teenage high school students. We see every character and are shown their daily routines. However two of the students plan to do something that the student body won't forget, shoot up the school.
Winner of the Golden Palm at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Elephant can be thought of as a slight re-telling of the Columbine high school massacre that shocked North America in 1999. Gus Van Sant has been criticized for not taking a stance on what provokes school shootings, but I feel this is an admirable trait. Documentary film-maker Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine points the blame at guns, Sants' film is not quite sure but it has a few suggestions. The theme of alienation is present throughout the film, though at best it is a symptom of a much deeper societal sickness.
The camera is a detached observer, and the strength of the film lies in its acute power of observation and detail. Van Sant's stead-cam tracks the many characters as they go about their day, following them through hallways that seem endless. It is a slow paced film, but not at all boring. We learn to care for the characters we meet, but unfortunately we feel a sense of doom for everyone we have met and when they perish we feel almost as if we lost a friend.
Elephant is a violent film, in the sense that many innocent people die, but takes the violence very seriously. There is no bravery in Van Sant's violence, nor is there a climax or exaggeration through acting. It's unflinching and flat, there is nothing exciting about it. Sant drains the violence of any reward or glamour and puts it in a social context. Though it will shock, it is very anti-violent.
In conclusion, though Elephant is a great film, it may be too depressing of a film to watch again. Very few people enjoy developing an emotional connection with people only to have them die by some very disturbed individuals. Because of his financial independance due to the success of Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant has made a provocative and Unconventional film that is free from Hollywood's clammy hands. Praise it! 4/5
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