mounir maged Elephant is a 2003 film directed by Gus Van Sant, which retells a fictionalized story of the Columbine shooting in 1999. Now the film has divided its viewers. Some say it's a unique film, others say it's pretentious garbage. The film is pretentious garbage.According to some critics and people, they say that this film is supposed to simply let you experience the event. If so, then why is the presentation of the film so dull, devoid of any artistic expressions or creative takes? Why are the only styles used are either shots that follow characters that conclude to nothing in the end? Why does the director only show some green clouds? It's not a f***ing screen saver. The film is truly lifeless, devoid of anything. It has no personality, no sense of purpose or knows what it wants to give.The film made me question a lot of things, but not the shooting. It made me question the dumb choices taken by the director. If the film simply wants to give you an experience, then why do we spend nearly the entire film trying to "build" these boring characters that is damn near impossible to get invested into them? Nothing they say is interesting, or presented in an interesting way. The style of the film is less than standard, so you can't even call it style over substance, because it has no style or substance. It's a pointless film that feels empty and is so egotistical of its self. Some of the shots look nice at best, but not impressive. Sadly, when these nice shots take place, the film takes a few seconds/minutes that feel like an eternity when it presents these shots. It doesn't add any mood, emotion or build-up, so it's pretty pointless.The final shooting, which is supposed to be the main thing about the film, is done with no passion or care. This is the point where it should be tragic and grow emotional, but because you don't care about these dumb characters, you don't care about the final even. In fact, I feel quite bad for laughing at the end because of how terrible the shooting was done. It was shot in a dull way, acted poorly, the dialogue was hilariously bad and some of the killings felt over the top.One last thing I should point out is that the script is mostly improvised, which explains why the dialogue is a piece of crap. None of the characters talk like a normal person you would relate to, or any sort of character you should relate to. Are these characters supposed to be sympathetic? Pure evil? The film doesn't even bother to ask these questions.It is truly a shame because such an interesting concept can work, but not like this. Maybe under the hands of a more talented film maker, and done in a documentary style, it would have been a lot better. But sadly it turned out to be one of the most boring and terrible movies I have ever experience. I felt agony and I wanted to bring the nearest gun to kill myself. 1/10 and I am being generous

Dan Hodges A film that lacks the depth and tact to handle its very sensitive subject matter with the sort of respect it deserves. It fails to offer a fresh take on the incident and feels like it is simply using its high profile to create shock for shock's sake. Furthermore, the gross simplification of the idea that media and art can create violent tendencies in young people (an idea that was heavily debated at the time) is presented with possibly the single worst fake- video-game-in-a-film I have ever seen. In a scene where one of the shooters is playing a fake first-person-shooter game that looks like it was made in less than 20 minutes using MS Paint and the most basic 3D animating tool and is never expanded upon. This theme of media influence comes up once more throughout the film, where the shooters are seen watching and being seemingly engrossed by a documentary about Adolf Hitler and the power of propaganda in Nazi Germany. I can only assume this scene was intended to show that the school shooters were obsessed with Hitler and the Nazis, presumably meant to be shocking but in a way that came off as "oh, these kids are interested in the Nazis? Well, no wonder they would be capable of a thing like this".I'm generally a fan of Gus Van Sant's films but Elephant filled me with disgust and disappointment. I expected a more tactfully-considered and respectfully handled piece from a director whose work I typically find to be unique and thought-provoking. Instead I got voyeuristic and ill- conceived trash with forced shock value and an undeserved weight garnered only by the notoriety of the Columbine school-shooting.

andras_sebok This is a terrible film. Unless it is meant to showcase how stupid American kids are it doesn't do anything for me. The conversations are pathetic, empty, meaningless, just as the film is...The whole build up takes up the majority of the film, the "actors" are awful. It looks like a bunch of amateurs got together, nominated another amateur as the "director" and wasted a few days trying to shoot a movie. Avoid. Now the stupid "minimum" 10 lines rule makes it really difficult to submit this because the movie is so horrible you it is very difficult to write more than what I did. and now I have 2 more lines to fill so I will also write about the lack of music it this "masterpiece". So to sum it up: this is a dreadful home movie with talentless actors, crappy camera work and shows a lack of imagination about how to tell a story.

Python Hyena Elephant (2003): Dir: Gus Van Sant / Cast: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson, Elias McConnell, Timothy Bottoms: Gus Van Sant's vision of the Columbine massacre with a title that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Perhaps it is symbolic but at a glance it certainly reflects nothing. The screenplay follows a variety of students through interlocking stories in order to give routine and purpose to their lives. Everyone is sharply written and observed and all will be effected when two students dressed in camouflage enter the school and produced heavily armed weapons that they obtained so easily. There is a real crisis at hand regarding the raising of children. The two terrorist in this film see killing as fun. We witness a variety of characters who all share similar fate. Are we so far into our routine that we take for granted a chance for its interruption? Extremely depressing film with an abrupt ending. There are poorly focused camera shots including a long shot behind someone's head while they play the piano. Gus Van Sant gained favour with films such as Good Will Hunting and To Die For but after the pathetic and unwanted remake of Psycho his career plummeted. He will likely recuperate but not likely with an independent film of this nature. Elephant is very low budget but ambitious in its message, acting and an attempt for a director to move onto bigger things. Score: 5 / 10