POST 14: Elephant, a Gus Van Sant movie (2003)

1) What struck you most in the film?

I realy liked so much the images and the way the movie is filmed.
2) What also impressed you?

What most impressed me in the movie was the scene where the two killers recieve the guns that they will use to kill all the students next day.
3) Did you find anything more particularly upsetting?

To my mind, I found that the director took the history maybe to far, and I found it was irrespectfull the way he treats this delicate topic.
4) What did you find very disturbing?

I think that the director treats the fact that they were two students planning to kill their collegues as if it was something normal could be disturbing for some.
5) What was most shocking?

The way the other students were portrated: joks, the girls who throught up at school after lunch, the nerds... It was too caricatural in my opinion.
6) What does the film  suggest about the two school shooters?

That they were normal people and that it was something with no importance,
7) What's more, what does the film director make clear about the two killers?

That they were homosexual.
8) What kind of approach to the school shooting itself did Gus Van Sant opt for?

Gus Van Sant represented the shool shooting in a very heroic and super dramatic way and not as if it was cruel and stupid.
9) Moreover, what's the main consequence of the realistic treatment he uses? What about the 'poetic' touches he instills throughout the film?

In my opinion, this artistic treatment he uses downplays the topic and the barbarian act they comited.
10) As a conclusion, what must we admit about the way in which the killing and the killers are perceived by the film viewers?

They are percieved as if it wasn't really very serious and they could be even forgiven.