Elephant (2003)

The movie is based in part on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Things slowly build up towards the climax when the actual shooting takes place. Alex and Eric are room mates and they are pretty frustrated with their school life. While one is a pianist the other is into guns and stuff. They decide to vent out their aggression and anger at being bullied, on their fellow school mates and officials.

The majority of the movie goes by in introducing the characters in the school. The shots are all long and pretty random, even pointless to the normal human eye. This part of the movie is painstakingly slow. Guess the director wanted to give a slow buildup to the shocking finale.

The significance of the title and the repeated shots of the same incident from different angles are hard to fathom.

In the end, when the students actually hear the gunfire, their reactions are pretty disturbing because it is not everyday that one witnesses a shootout at school, that too by fellow students. The students cease to believe it at first. By the time, they realize what is happening, most of them are dead. Really shattering.

Would have worked better if the running time had been even lesser. Fact of the matter is, the running time is just 78 mins. A short documentary would have been apt. Novel intentions by Gus Van Sant.

VERDICT: The finale is shocking. The uber slow buildup to the climax is hard to fathom though.