Elephant (2003, Gus Van Sant)

There are two things that every filmmaker needs to be able to do well in order to make a good film. Number one is: being able to accurately portray different aspects of human beings without stereotyping or creating archetypes. Number two is: properly utilizing the setting of the film and the characters within the world they have created to build mood and atmosphere. These two elements are, in my book, what can make or break a director's film.

Mr. Van Sant is one of modern American cinema's most difficult enigmas. He has directed such mainstream works as Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester. He also put together such brilliant art house works as Last Days and Paranoid Park. He is also helming this holiday season's biography of famous gay rights activist and senator Harvey Milk, Milk. Despite this quite erratic body of work, Gus Van Sant is, without a doubt, one of the better modern filmmakers, and Elephant is his masterpiece.

It's an ordinary fall day in Oregon. We are introduced to several different high school students as they go about their daily routines. It all seems so ordinary, and rather comforting, as it feels like any old day that you and I may live out. However, two young men arrive at the school, dressed in camo and carrying several large bags. Within minutes, they enter the library and being to shoot everyone in sight.

At the core of the film is the realism, and boy is it realistic. Van Sant said that the film is based on, but not a re-enactment of, the events at Columbine. What hit me when I was watching the film was the dreamlike realism of the film. It's such an eerie mood that Van Sant builds until the climax (which features the shooting), when he hits the audience with an intense realism. It's rare to find a film with a symbolic atmosphere, representative of our almost apathetic routines shattered by an unexpected turn of events.

Van Sant doesn't in any way disrespect the tragedies of school shootings. If anything, it's a wake up call and almost a plea. As the film progresses towards the climax, Van Sant throws out several different reasons as to what drives these young men to such a horrible act of violence. From lack of parental affection, to repressed homosexuality, to the "violent video game theory", he doesn't ever claim to know why these things happen. He seems instead to be imploring us to stop arguing about the "why".

On the technical side of things, Elephant is fantastic. The photography is stunningly intimate, even with the two shooters. Van Sant puts us closer to the tragedy than most people may ever want to be. Yet he pulls away from things when it's appropriate. By placing the majority of adults either out of focus or half cut out, he seems to explore the idea of a disconnect between adults and teens despite the two groups sharing the same spaces.

In the film's time, we only know some characters for close to 10 or 15 minutes, yet we feel close to them. Maybe it's because they represent the mundaneness or normality of the situation. Van Sant hired non-actors, and this in some ways makes the abruptness of the shooting even more chilling. It's almost as though instead of being characters, they are human beings. They are normal. They are us.

I think what I find so amazing about Elephant is the grace and delicacy, yet refusal to pull punches, with which Gus Van Sant created the film. It lacks a pretentiousness that most people ignorantly interpret as being there. It's a powerful and, I believe, very important film that cuts to places where most others would either shy away from or find it impossible to penetrate.

It's the humanity that sets this film apart. I can't even begin to explain how human this picture is. Whether it's the cruel violence of the situation, Van Sant's refusal to create villains out of the shooters, or the striking intimacy of the picture being painted it's beautiful yet horrifying to see. A fantastic achievement in and of itself. I applaud Mr. Van Sant's amazing work.

10/10