Elephant Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 27th, 2003
ELEPHANT
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An aerial shot shows a car weaving down a leafy suburban street, bumping against parked cars. A bleached blonde teenager, John McFarland (John Robinson) exasperatedly tells his father (Timothy Bottoms) to get out of the car, that his mother will kill him. Dad's drunk again and John will be late for school, but this slightly out of the ordinary event may be what saves John's life that day in Gus van Sant's 2003 Cannes Palme d'Or winner, "Elephant."
Using the same experimental techniques which made his "Gerry" so intriguing, van Sant achieves startling yet lesser results with "Elephant." Beautiful images and some moments of stark irony cannot negate the fact that not only do we know where this story is headed, not necessarily a problem in and of itself, but that combined with this observant style the film fails to engage the emotions.
After meeting John (van Sant titles the introduction of each high school student he will continue to follow), Eli (Elias McConnell) takes the time to photograph a young punker couple in a park on the way to school. Harris Savides's ("Gerry") camera stays static, letting Eli walk farther into the high school's horizon. The camera remains static after a cut to the gymnastic field where a nerdy girl in a Wildcats sweatshirt (Michelle (Kristen Hicks) is introduced in her next scene) seems to be trying to identify the music (Beethoven) that has appeared on the soundtrack before picking up Nathan (Nathan Tyson) and following him into the school where he passes a group of three admiring young women (Jordan (Jordan Taylor), Brittany (Brittany Mountain) and Nicole (Nicole George)) before meeting up with girlfriend Carrie (Carrie Finklea, whose brief glance at the camera is the only note of unnaturalness). Acadia (Alicia Miles) leaves class to find John alone, tears streaming down his face. He says he's OK, then heads out to see if his dad has wandered from the car where John has left him. Outside, he plays with a dog (Savides goes slo-mo for this last moment of 'normality') then sees two teens approaching outfitted for battle. 'What are you guys doing?' he asks. He's advised to get out of the area, that something heaving is about to go down.
On April 20, 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold perpetrated the most notorious school massacre in Columbine, Colorado in what was to become a raft of them. Van Sant presents his interpretation of multiple looks at what it must have been like that day by repeating the meeting points of his initial scenes from different points of view while reaching back or moving forward with each character or character grouping to fill out the story. Savides's camerawork is beautiful, gliding along with his subjects, alternately placing them within their environment or isolating them with shallow focus in hallways that turn into tunnels of light. Shots of the sky comment upon events. Sound designer Leslie Shatz's ("Gerry") muted work combined with the use of Beethoven throughout adds unsettling atmosphere.
Van Sant's idea works strongly in a few scenes. Jordan, Brittany and Nicole joke about 'living long enough' to obtain a driver's license before all three vomit up their just eaten lunches in the ladies room. Friendless Michelle reenters the high school from the track field via an empty basketball court and her long walk across it presents her as a sitting duck, a target. Eli's photography takes on a different meaning when one knows what is coming. However, seeing as Van Sant roughly follows the events of Columbine, he also makes some questionable choices, presenting the killers, Alex (Alex Frost) and Eric (Eric Deulen) here, in an ill-defined homosexual relationship. Alex is clearly the leader ('Is that Hitler?' asks Eric as they both watch Nazi footage on TV), but Van Sant makes no attempt to delve into their motivations. Is he suggesting their homosexuality made them the target of abuse (he briefly shows a student pelting Alex with gunk in class and also shows a Gay Straight Alliance class under attack)? Another disturbing choice is the introduction of Benny (Bennie Dixon), the only character we meet after the violence has begun. He's also the only Black character. Why has Van Sant singled Benny out? Although Alex may be targeting Blacks in his plan, he distinctly verbalizes getting jocks, a group Nathan fits into. Van Sant is inadvertently making some type of comment even as he claims "We didn't want to explain anything."
Van Sant achieves realistic performances from his amateur cast (only the adults, which include Bottoms, Matt Malloy ("Finding Forrester") as the principal and Ellis E. Williams ("Antwone Fisher") as the GSA teacher, are professionals). The oddly subdued reactions of John McFarland and his father outside the smoking school contribute to the film's flat effect, though.
The film is named after a British film on violence in Ireland that similarly withheld explanations, but while Van Sant thought the reasoning lay in the blind men and elephant fable, the earlier film referred to the British saying of a problem being like 'an elephant in a living room.'
"Elephant" is a technically elegant experiment which builds tension then oddly deflates. Only the fate of Michelle, "Elephant's" Carrie, lingers.
B-
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