Prismark10
The Troubles in Northern Ireland inspired a lot films and dramas. Some more controversial than others.Alan Clarke's Elephant was totally left field. When the BBC broadcast it, they were inundated with complaints on television programmes such as 'Points of View.'Never before we had a television drama, almost wordless where one person shoots another person, a few minutes later someone else shoots another and so on and so on. Be they working in a petrol station, in a swimming pool, playing football, eating in a restaurant, at home or walking in the park, someone blasts them.These horrific random acts of violence in due course desensitizes us, maybe even leave us bored and confused as without dialogue we are unsure as to what is happening and just seeing people walking about until they take a gun out and shoot somebody.Alan Clarke was an early adopter of the Steadicam for television work which means we follow the various people out and about as the camera operator is alongside them.This was one of Clarke's last works who died a year later. Seeing Elephant again many years later, when the film is almost 25 years old, you get struck that this is a period piece with the now old model cars and that Northern Ireland has moved on since the peace process.
jokexom
The film is made up of 18 short films, showing unjustified killings. In each part of this strange thriller, a murderer and a sacrifice and usually but them in the shot no one.The painting "Elephant", is filled with a cold, so a neutral atmosphere. If from what you can get here is a pleasure as the mood of the film. All shorts are designed in one color, unrelated, they still look very harmonious.This film may be a benefit for young filmmakers to make films, in which there are scenes of murder.Of course, if you look at the film with plenty of imagination, it can be to make up the history of each murder, thereby determining why it happened.After a while, after this film, there is a picture of Gus Van Sant, going by the same name. There definitely is a connection there, because in one of the interviews himself Van Sant said that after watching the "elephant" Clark, he wanted to withdraw his "Elephant." I think he is right and is the spectator Clark, who watched this movie with plenty of imagination. That imagined Van Sant, the mass murder at the school, and quite original show cause, not as pure, but the name speaks for itself, the problem is definitely there, it is just in the minds of others, there is much we would not get. Both elephants, a very similar atmosphere that captivates the viewer, who manages the end to inspect these movies.
cstewart-5
I remember watching this when I was 15 years and living in the country south of Belfast, it caused a bit of a stir. So what! It was a well aligned look at the madness that was going' those days.The film was great, but will serve as a dirty birthmark on future generations.The colors of the print represent the dark-blue rainy place well, the angles are fresh, but a camera and a filter can't elude reality. The silence is in-line with the unfortunate soul who may get finished off in this film, or?For the future generations in Ulster I would burn this film.
RobertF87
This film was made for British television in 1988, the last film by it's controversial creator Alan Clarke. There's no story here at all. Set in Northern Ireland, the film depicts a series of seemingly random killings.It is shot entirely on location with completely unknown actors. The film is quite disturbingly realistic. There is almost no dialogue in the film and absolutely no attempt to give the film any kind of context. The film is certainly well-made and impressive but the initial sense of shock fades before the film is over and the repeated images soon become dull, which might be the film's most disturbing aspect. In a way the use of gliding camera movements following characters either to their own deaths or to kill someone else, as well as the film's frequent use of holding on the image of the victims for some time after the killings take place can work against the involvement you might feel for this film. It is certainly worth watching, however. The casualness of the brutality and the haunting images linger for a long time after the end credits roll
AD
