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Elephant
2003
Gus Van Sant's drifty, eloquent, and effortlessly poignant ELEPHANT is loosely based on the massacre at Columbine High School. (On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado two 17-year-old boys fired semi-automatic weapons on their high school classmates, killing 13, injuring 25, and then taking their own lives.) Van Sant's film is .. Read more
| Starring | Alex Frost, John Robinson, Eric Deulen, Timothy Bottoms |
|---|---|
| Director | Gus Van Sant |
| Genres | Drama |
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Elephant
Gus Van Sant's drifty, eloquent, and effortlessly poignant ELEPHANT is loosely based on the massacre at Columbine High School. (On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado two 17-year-old boys fired semi-automatic weapons on their high school classmates, killing 13, injuring 25, and then taking their own lives.) Van Sant's film is set in Portland, Oregon and uses non-actors chosen from an open casting call of high school students. On a crisp, sunny Autumn day, with colourful leaves on the trees and puffy clouds drifting across blue skies, students arrive at school as usual. Eli takes photographs for his portfolio, John manages problems with his alcoholic father, Acadia attends a gay-lesbian meeting, Nate plays a game of tag football, and Michelle works in the library. Meanwhile, two outsiders, Eric and Alex, harbour hatred for their peers. Each of ELEPHANT's students have unique interests and personalities, and the film respectfully emphasises their individuality. It also demonstrates how school is an unpredictable blender where students' differences are constantly agitated. Harris Savides' excellent photography--shot in 1:33 aspect ratio, making the movie a cube in the centre of the screen--follows and floats, sometimes blurring and juxtaposing the light to achieve an ethereal mood; while Leslie Shatz's ambient sound design and a soundtrack of soft Beethoven piano music completes that feeling. The film is structured in brief overlapping chapters all taking place on the morning of the 11:35 A.M. attack.
ELEPHANT won the Palme D'Or and Best Director at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
| Starring | Alex Frost, John Robinson, Eric Deulen, Timothy Bottoms |
|---|---|
| Director | Gus Van Sant |
| Studio | HIGH FLIERS |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 20 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 21 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English Blu-ray: English |
| Released | DVD: 07 Jun 2004 Blu-ray: 20 Jul 2009 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (4)
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With its title taken from Alan Clarke's 1989 BBC drama about violence in Northern Ireland, director Gus Van Sant's Palme d'Or-winning film documents a normal day at an ordinary American high school. Except this day ends in a senseless massacre, much like the Columbine killings to which it alludes. The main characters are real students using their actual names, and their matter-of-fact casual encounters and improvised snatched conversations are detailed in long travelling shots, often replayed from slightly different perspectives, before Alex (Alex Frost) and Eric (Eric Deulen) enter school in camouflage gear carrying internet-purchased assault weapons. It's either a disturbing yet poetic disaster movie, or an unsatisfyingly arty view of a contemporary malaise that offers no reasons or solutions. By sitting on the fence and not apportioning blame, Van Sant's experimental drama raises more questions than it answers — and that's perhaps his point.
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The surprise recipient of the Palme d'Or at Cannes 2003, Van Sant's movie began life as a conventional Hollywood... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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56 out of 69 people found this review helpful
a strange thing of beauty.....
This film is a comment on the Columbine massacre and gun culture in America. In a way its closer to the truth of the incident than Michael Moore's 'Bowling for Columbine' just like a painting might convey more internal feelings than a photograph.
The Photography in this film was very beautiful with an interesting use of depth of field, camera movement and slow motion. The sound was claustrophobic like a horror movie.
This film may offend certain peoples moral sensiblities, but I found it unconventional, hard hitting and strangley very beautiful. -
Most recent members' review
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7 out of 10 people found this review helpful
Detached
Herein lies both the strength and weakness of Elephant.
It's clinical in its outlook, offering no sway either for or against the protagonists. It's easy to sensationalise this subject, as it can be an emotive issue. This I felt was a strength. No judgement.
Conversely, in its detachment and peripheral stance, it doesn't really offer any means of relating to any of the people "in the wrong place, at the wrong time".
Maybe if it offered more information relating to the background of *why* the kids felt the need to resort to such extreme lengths to vent their spleen, I might have thought higher of it.
I felt that many of the characters were far too convenient, offering no real input to the story.
Overall, it was OK, however it could have been more ... but would this have lessened it? A hard one to call. Thought-provoking certainly, and essential? Debatable. -
News and features
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Afterschool
- Tom Charity
- 17 Aug 2009
A long way from the John Hughes school of teen tribulation, Antonio Campos’ arty independent film is set in an elite East Coast preparatory school for the scion of wealthy patrons. The kids here are groomed for the Ivy League. They will be doctors, lawyers, and Wall Street moves and shakers. First, though, they need an education in a safe, nurturing environment sheltered from the worst excesses of the outside world. As if. Even privileged teenagers have internet access – with all... Read more
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Gus Van Sant's drifty, eloquent, and effortlessly poignant ELEPHANT is loosely based on the massacre at Columbine High School. (On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado two 17-year-old boys fired ... -
