Elephant was produced in 2003 as the hallmark of Gus Van Sant's Fly-on-the-wall, hyper-realist style he would develop further throughout his 'Death' trilogy (along with 'Gerry' and 'Last Days'). Van Sant employs a distinct common memory of American Society, the massacre at Columbine High School, to look deeply into social situations by presenting the issues that arise from them in the most superficial levels and leaving the interpretation to the audience.

The movie opens with John's journey to school as his drunk-driving father throws his car all over the road. John is forced to take control of the situation, reversing the roles of parental supervisor and obedient child. Quickly, the film switches focus to Elias, a budding photographer. After the focus is turned to the sports field of a high school as the audience is introduced to other characters to be later developed. Van Sant uses this style of character introduction to relate the audience back to the awkwardness of early high-school, when you are only introduced on the most superficial level first, and never seem to delve deeper. Like in everyday interactions the characters are first introduced by vague moments and random social actions that may or may not be indicative of their true character. As the first 20 minutes of the film progresses, little of the characters are offered specifically, but issues of responsibility of life and death already arise, when we see John's anguish over his father's parental incompetence along with Nathan's casual discussion of the possibility of the abortion of his child. It is only after this that anything pertinent to the plot arises. Separating this day from any other, as Eric and Alex walk onto campus carrying duffel bags and wearing camouflage. The film continues introducing more members of the school while overlaying the story, seeing different basic social interactions from multiple points of view. Much of the film is done in this way in taking great lengths of time following a single character simply walk around campus (Van Sant refuses to allow his viewer to forget the simple actions that make up life, even when the precede death). As we get to know the eventual murders the only insight that the film posits is a homosexual relationship between Eric and Alex as they prepare for their self-proposed destiny. That topic is short-lived as the killers make their way to campus fully armed and completely silent. When they reach campus, in a situation already shown from John's perspective, it is raining (which it wasn't the first time) and offer one last opportunity to save others by warning John who futility attempts to prevent others from walking into a likely death. The shooting starts coldly in the library as the murderers fire on anyone in sight, including those pleading for mercy. The shooting continues, affecting everyone on campus that the director has introduced us to. The movie leaves us with the image of Benny, a lone, black student who serenely glides the hallways as the terror escalates, taking time to help one student out of the building before walking into his incomprehensible death, leaving the earth just as he entered our consciousness.

Elephant in fact uses very basic technologies to present itself. Using a standard, 'full-screen' film stock (4:3 ratio) the presentation of the image actually regresses technologically. Only the crystallization of the image made possible by the development of common film stock separates the images from the grainy look of classic television. Van Sant also employs very simplistic mixes of the sounds focusing at times more on the ambient sounds that make up life then the action that the audience's eye is drawn to. Still the director is able to visually create both stunning close-ups and offer dramatic displays of the landscape creating a constant feeling of being just outside of the frame. Van Sant never allows the viewer to become conscious of the camera; he makes the camera's movements synonymous with the audience's reaction, were they on location, which is only intensified by his ability to use the ambient sounds very consciously to focus the audience's attention where he wants it.

In Elephant, the talent of the director shines through while the untrained, amateurish actors give the film so much. Gus Van Sant has directed some of the most powerful contemporary American films. Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho were stunning works of film that drew rave revues but didn't impact society at large. At the end of the 1990s, Van Sant's commercial success skyrocketed first with the critical and popular achievement of Good Will Hunting, followed by Finding Forrester. Van Sant is pioneering a new style of filmmaking perfectly produced in this picture. His new style accentuates simplicity of life even in the most extraordinary conditions. Filled with long takes of simply walking, Van Sant forces his audiences to look at all aspects of life for what they are, refusing to accentuate any aspect over another. Therefore the talent of the actors necessary is minimal. In fact the realism that can only be brought to the screen by untrained actors is best exemplified in this film. The 'no-name' actors steal the screen by simply being human. Nothing seemed forced in these actors because the writing doesn't allow it. The situations are so common that until the horrific finale, one can say there is essentially no acting in the film.

Van Sant breaks no new ground with his intended audience. The disaffected youth which has been a major audience for film is definitely the most appropriate audience for the film as it deals directly with the everyday struggles they may face, but the movie is completely accessible to all American audiences that understand the social context from which it comes.

Elephant defines itself as a zeitgeist for the early 21^st century in two major ways. First, it examines the very real threat of everyday violence, specifically through the lens of the tragedy at Columbine High School. Secondly, it attaches itself very critically to the infatuation America grew at this time to what has been named "reality television". In the very end of the 20^th century and in the opening of the 21^st century, violence became very real for a much greater section of the United States. Before the tragedies of high school shootings in suburbia and the tragedies of September 11^th, 2001, violence in film and in the popular imagination only occurred in very urban areas to people who were either at the wrong place or at the wrong time, or put themselves in a situation where violence was predictable. Today, Americans no longer say that they are safe. Violence no can affect anyone, anywhere, doing anything. Elephant presents this in its most basic form. Previously, if this subject were to have been addressed in popular culture, the only murders that would have been witnessed specifically by the audience would have been murders of those who directly hurt Eric and Alex previously in the film. It would only have been those that caused hurt in the first place to deserve hurt later. The first victim in this film, however, is Carrie. Carrie is the shy girl who is mocked for not fitting in; we see her in the course of the film taunted and made fun of by other students. She is a character what would have previously been saved in this film, since she is innocent, especially in the eyes of the killer. But guilt or innocence is no longer important in the American film. Furthermore, the possibility of salvation is no longer an option. This happens in two ways. After John is morbidly warned about what is to happen, he darts around campus trying to prevent people from entering campus and the stage for death. Poignantly, we see a faculty member ignore John, assuming there is no validity in his fears. The culture of distrust our society has harvested for itself has ultimately lead us to our own demise. Beyond that, Benny shows heroism as he lends help to students escaping the school, but when faced with the barrel of a gun, his good deeds, nor anything else, can save him.

Additionally, this film looks critically at the importance attached to 'reality' in popular culture during this time period. On television, traditional television programming of drama and sitcom fell by the way side of 'reality' television. Competitions that pitted people not only against others, but also against their instincts and selves, flooded the airwaves in the late 1990s and the first few years after 2000. The obsession was an attempt to strip privacy from others in order to look at people 'as they really were'. Van Sant's hyper-realism challenges these popular ideas on daily life as presented in Survivor and The Real World, and reminds audiences of what real life can be at times. Sometimes it's just walking down hallways (which occupies much of this film). It isn't constantly picking fights and eating wildlife. Life is boring, with brief moments of terrifying excitement in Van Sant's world which is in complete contrast with the major push in popular culture when this movie was released. Van Sant took the artistic direction from the dominant popular culture, but used the medium to invert its original message.

Elephant. Dir. Gus Van Sant. DVD. HBO Films, 2003.