Elephant - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

sadatx · 11-30-2003, 03:44 PM

Has anyone seen this yet? I'd love to know your opinions if you have.

It's about a school shooting and is somewhat based on Columbine, although it's more accurate to say that it's a fictional reworking than that it's based on a true story.

The movie centers on one day and instead of building a story, it mostly follows a set group of characters as the do normal mundane high school things (well not everything they do is so mundane). You see the different characters cross paths and then you see certain scenes over again from a different point of view.

It all works to unsettle the audience since we know what is inevitably coming at the end. And it also works as some sort of disturbing horror movie.

It won the Palme D'Or at Cannes with some controversy (most of the judges this year were American), and the movie's not for everyone. It's slow and some will say unfocused and even offensive. Personally, I liked it, I think it illuminated the tragedy in some way, but I'm not entirely sure how. Overall, I'd reccomend it. If it does nothing else, it will surely spark some discussion.

11-30-2003, 03:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
sadatx Psycho	Elephant Has anyone seen this yet? I'd love to know your opinions if you have. It's about a school shooting and is somewhat based on Columbine, although it's more accurate to say that it's a fictional reworking than that it's based on a true story. The movie centers on one day and instead of building a story, it mostly follows a set group of characters as the do normal mundane high school things (well not everything they do is so mundane). You see the different characters cross paths and then you see certain scenes over again from a different point of view. It all works to unsettle the audience since we know what is inevitably coming at the end. And it also works as some sort of disturbing horror movie. It won the Palme D'Or at Cannes with some controversy (most of the judges this year were American), and the movie's not for everyone. It's slow and some will say unfocused and even offensive. Personally, I liked it, I think it illuminated the tragedy in some way, but I'm not entirely sure how. Overall, I'd reccomend it. If it does nothing else, it will surely spark some discussion.