Elephant

Elephant (2003) shows an ordinary day at an American high school, and at the end of that day there is a school shooting. The film follows several students: a boy taking photographs, one coming back from football practice, three girls talking in the canteen, a teenager who has had to bring his father to school. The camera walks behind them through the corridors and almost nothing happens. The same moments are shown more than once from behind different people. Two characters pass each other in a corridor and we see the same crossing a second time through the other's eyes. Time does not run straight. Then two students arrive with guns. The most argued over aspect is that it explains nothing. No cause is offered: violent games, bullying, buying the weapons and the family all appear in short scenes and none is presented as sufficient. Van Sant said he did not know the reason. It was prompted by Columbine but is not a reconstruction. Most of the cast are not professionals; real high school students were used and the characters largely carry the actors' own names. Some of the dialogue is improvised. It won both the Palme d'Or and best director at Cannes. Long tracking shots and the use of Beethoven build its texture. It runs 81 minutes. Good for: art cinema, formal experiment, and difficult subjects. Less good for: the shooting is cold and direct, and the film offers no comfort and no explanation.