Heart of America (2002) User Reviews

Hey teachers, leave those kids alone!

[fmarkland32 · 4/10 · 17 August 2006]

Jurgen Prochnow and Michael Pare star as a principal and teacher of an average high school that has a columbine style shooting that will take the lives of many students of course along the way we will run into characters who deserve to die and those who don't, the main point of interest is Prochnow and Pare who don't really strike one as the faculty type. I myself teach and well for one, this movie fails to convince me as anything resembling reality. Whether it be with teachers or students. Michael Pare's character plays a teacher who openly mocks his student's work. If such a thing ever happened you would be suspended or even dismissed because we encourage, not laugh at a student's work. Okay, I don't teach English (Pretty sure you can tell, whoever has glanced at my reviews) however it is pretty basic that all a teacher can take points off for, is grammar errors rather than content of such material. At least at high school level. Anyway the movie itself fails to convince one of the students and their plights because it is far too overwrought in the humiliation sequences. These humiliation sequences that these kids put the shooters through is something more at home in Last House On The Left rather than a school yard. Kids do not force other kids to take their clothes off and eat feces, rather they beat up on them. A far better film wouldn't have had any motivation of the killer's part and therefore it would feel more subtle and honest. There are some strong sequences such as the final showdown between the shooter and his tormentor but it is treated as just desserts and I for one can't bring myself to say that this has something rational to say if it is treated like an action movie. However despite a few bizarre moments of camera angles, such as the part which is supposed to simulate a drug haze, Heart Of America is Boll's most competent effort I've seen and although the results are fairly watchable, It is quite obvious that Boll is oblivious in telling a story. He lacks subtleness and that is a big flaw in all his films. Also Prochnow and Pare as principal and teacher? Did Uwe Boll see Eddie And The Cruisers and Das Boot?

* * out of 4-(Fair)

Heart of America Vs Elephant

[snakej · 4/10 · 6 March 2006]

The movie was OK, it got its message across clearly but it could have been much better. If you want to see a school shooting movie watch Elephant its much better. The characters are more realistic,they are more typical teenagers and than representatives of stereotypes. The acting is much better, not like you picked the kids up at the high school your filming and you get more "sucked" into the movie whereas this one made me want the end to come. Some kudos to the director for some very good use of scene placement, for example how he kept switching the storyline form the pregnant couple to the girl trying to protect her virginity form her boyfriend, that seemed brilliant to me. If you've already seen this movie and liked it then go see Elephant you'll like it very similar but better.

Uwe Boll tries to recreate the Columbine shooting.

[Absyrd · 3/10 · 9 June 2008]

As everyone realizes by now, this is probably Boll's best work, but that's hardly a compliment considering his abhorrent filmography. This one detracts from his usual game-to-movie adaptation, and it's basically a remake of Columbine. It tries to create insight regarding the shooting, but it's mostly just banal sentimentality with copycat flair, one-dimensional, predictable characters with conventional, exaggerated teenage problems, and slow-paced, pointless black-and-white sequences to show us the 'troubled' past of these kids.

It offers nothing new to the subject. It creates a mundane, melodramatic explanation, it annoys you with slow-paced, trite, uninteresting drama, and it takes no risks. It doesn't try to offer an innovative, thought-provoking look at these kids motives, and considering that Boll wrote and directed the film, a risk would've probably been a disaster. Well, at least it wouldn't have been an already established, pointless, boring recreation.

More Boll Brilliance

[Crap_Connoisseur · 27 July 2006]

Heart of America, released in Australia as "Home Room", is a well acted and finely crafted film. Uwe Boll tackles a most difficult subject matter with a grace and subtlety that you would not expect from the director of "Alone In The Dark" and "House Of The Dead". Somewhat predictably, Uwe's armchair critics have been sharpening their knives over this film as well. Do these people have anything better to do than rant about a relatively obscure film director's shortcomings? Don't be put off by Uwe's undeserved reputation as the king of crap; Heart of America is a great film.

Heart of America is one of several films to be inspired by recent high school shooting tragedies. This may sound like a perverse topic for Uwe Boll to examine given his subsequent devotion to making gory horror movies. However, Boll has crafted a surprisingly intelligent and thought provoking film. More impressively, Uwe succeeds where the likes of Gus Van Sant have failed - unlike "Elephant", Heart of America actually makes for interesting viewing. By treating this theme within the context of what appears to be a straight forward teen drama, Boll allows viewers to get to know the characters before plunging into tragedy. This makes the eventual outcome all the more affecting.

One of the few complaints about Uwe Boll that carries some validity is his tendency to overlook any kind of character development. This makes the in depth character study in Heart of America all the more satisfying. The lives of both the shooters and the victims are explored, which provides a balanced insight into the circumstances that can lead to such inexplicable events and puts a human face to the perpetrators of such acts. The film is interestingly constructed, revealing a group of very different but equally unhappy and disillusioned teens. One reviewer described these characters as stereotypes and I could not disagree more. The characters are almost hyper-real. The drug dealer might look like an extra from "The O.C." but the bullied teenagers, the frustrated teacher and the perplexed principal are all wonderfully realised.

The acting in the film is mostly outstanding. Once again, Boll has collected a fantastic cast - Juergen Prochnow and Michael Pare are at their very best. It's nice to see a cameo from Maria Conchita Alonso as a school counsellor and Boll regular Will Sanderson is great as the town loser. The younger actors are mostly fine, with the exception of the pregnant girl and the wooden Barbie doll playing the principal's daughter.

The film works best when exploring the lives of its teen characters. The scenes of bullying and the flashback to the rape of a disabled girl are bleak, gritty and powerful. The look on the brother's face as he hears his idolised sibling recount the rape is devastating. The film loses its way occasionally (what was with the secretary and her bizarre hand gesture to celebrate the last day of school?) but everything is held together by slick editing and a very clever script. I have always enjoyed Uwe's unique directorial skills and he outdoes himself here. I can't wait for more computer game adaptations but after seeing this I hope he squeezes another hard hitting drama into his schedule.

Heart of America is a riveting film that deserves a bigger audience. This film is eloquent and thought provoking, while still managing to be interesting and entertaining. This movie should be judged on its merits, not the subsequent films of its director.

Boll is the wrong man to teach this "lesson"

[sexytail · 1/10 · 26 June 2006]

In Uwe Boll's commentary on the DVD of "Alone in the Dark" he brags about how Ron Howard liked "Heart of America". I really have to wonder what Ron was thinking. Some might think of this film as bold for taking on the hot topic of school shootings, but others (including me) think of it as a travesty for badly dramatizing it. It is an intriguing, important topic, but I've never seen a film successfully tackle it (No, I'm not a fan of "Elephant"). I was in high school when most of the school shootings were happening, so I feel a kind of connection to the subject.

This film follows various high school kids through their last day of school. We cut between various pre-class conversations in cars, bedrooms, offices, etc. For every character there's a clearly (and mechanically) laid out conflict. Among them are a student who deals drugs, a couple of students who's relationship is ending, a tweaker student, a group of bullies, a teacher who is overly harsh on his students, and the two misfit kids planning the shooting. There are lots and lots of flashbacks (in black and white) explaining how things got this way for the misfit kids.

Clint Howard shows up as one of the shooter kids' emotionally abusive father. Jurgen Prochnow plays the school principal. And for no reason at all, Michael Pare appears as the teacher in a performance that reminds us all why he's on the celebrity Z list. None of these characters seem all that convincing and the dialog comes straight from an after school special (plus swearing, of course). The writers don't realty seem to understand their teenage subjects, resulting in the same major problem as "Elephant": you don't really come to care about the characters. Flimsy plot combined with irritating characters does not result in a compelling film.

This subject deserved a much better treatment. However, this is probably the height of schlock director Uwe Boll's career. The characters are irritating, and some of them you wouldn't mind seeing killed, but that's more than you can say for "House of the Dead" or "Alone in the Dark". That said, it is a tedious, insultingly dumb movie which I doubt anyone could benefit from watching.

Two-Dimensional, One-Sided Take of School Shootings

[bondgirl6781 · 1/10 · 15 December 2006]

The film pretty much a rated-R version of an after school special: cursing, drug use, gratuitous sex, and rape all involving teens that are played by actors in their twenties. The film is supposedly a cautionary tale of how two young high school students who make the decision to shoot up the school. Before the shooting begins we are subjected to events that lead up to the shootings: a jock confesses to his sweetheart girlfriends that he has banged other girls because she wouldn't "put out." A pathetic jackass relays a story to a group of high school students on how he and his friends gang raped a mentally disturbed girl (the flash sequences of the rape is pretty graphic). An a young high school couple who make the decision of whether or not they are going to keep the unexpected baby on the way. The film for the most part is pathetic and an excuse to forgive anyone who goes into a school with guns and weapons to kill their persecutors. It's disgraceful and the characters are underdeveloped and fake with all the rated-R benefits to go along with. If you are curious feel free to rent, but you won't get your money back.

Awful

[g_imdb-43 · 2/10 · 21 April 2009]

I understand this is one of Uwe Boll's better films, which is like saying Auschwitz was one of Hitler's better concentration camps.

Every moment and every character is horribly cliché'd, and nothing is terribly interesting.

Like all Americans, I'm somewhat protective of my country, and if you're going to make a film about America from an outside perspective, you better have something interesting to say. If all you can do is repeat endless clichés that other have already said, that's not art and that's not insight, it's just insult.

And insulted is how I feel after watching this film.

Oh, and the main theme music is a ripoff of Led Zeppelin.

A strong subject matter, but not in Boll's hands...

[Leofwine_draca · 3/10 · 3 December 2020]

Uwe Boll takes a high school massacre plot in HEART OF AMERICA, one of his more mainstream productions that reveals the director's preoccupation with real-life shootings and rampages of destruction. It's an interesting and powerful subject matter for sure, but never so in this director's hands. This is a tedious dialogue-fuelled drama that only really gets going right at the climax. Until then we get long drawn-out scenes mixed and cut together with lots of black and white flashbacks. One sub-plot involves two characters talking in a car for an hour while another couple walk down a street for an hour. It's laboriously done and the only real interest comes from the usual star-studded casting: Jurgen Prochnow, Michael Pare and future TV great Elisabeth Moss all show up in support.

Don't let the fact that Uwe Boll scare you away from watching this

[Seth_Rogue_One · 8/10 · 11 December 2014]

Uwe Boll isn't exactly a name I praise very highly, actually his movies 'House of the dead' and 'Alone In The Dark' are 2 of the worst movies I've seen.

He does get it right occasionally though, with for instance 'Rampage' and 'Assault On WallStreet' oddly enough both those have a similar theme of mass-shootings as this one, perhaps that's a subjectmatter that Uwe simply connects with the most and thereby where he shines the most in doing.

I have no idea why this is so low rated, I think it could have to do with 2 things:

1. Although it's inspired by Columbine a lot of things have been changed around and perhaps people thought that that was wrong or...

2. The shooters are portrayed as humans, not just psychos going on a rampage and some of the victims are indeed seen as "asking for it". And that might have rubbed some Americans the wrong way, who'd want nothing more than to believe that kids who commit this acts are born monsters.

It's not a flawless movie tho, as it is a ensemble-dramathriller some characters aren't as interesting as others but Brendan Fletcher is amazing as the lead-bully they really couldn't have found anyone better for the job.

Most of the cast does a very good job tho but he and Kett Turton stands out the most and are the main focus of the movie.

It's probably Uwe Boll's greatest movie.

What's our legacy? We saw, we came, we got p*ssed on weekly?

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 6 August 2009]

I do not know of any other director that has generated so much hatred. There are petitions on the net calling for Uwe Boll to never direct again. Is he really that bad? I am viewing this film, recommended as a good example of his work, with that in mind.

The film did an excellent job of showing the motivation behind the actions of the boys. The rape of the disabled girl was no different than the physical and psychological abuse of the two boys by the jocks. It was a violation of privacy and of their bodies.

But, it wasn't just the two boys or the girl who was raped, there was also other plots going on involving teen pregnancy, pressure to have sex, and unfair teachers. Would there be more than two people to explode on the last day? The end result was very predictable and a cautionary tale of what is allowed by school officials and the result of overpopulated schools.

Bottom line: this was an interesting and engaging movie and Uwe Boll did a very good job of telling the story.

Maybe sounds like a cliché, but this is one of the most underrated movies ever

[anoukane · 10/10 · 27 August 2004]

I've seen the movie Elephant lately and i found that that movie was pretty good. I saw this movie in a store and i decided to rent it with the thought elephant was good, maybe this will be even better. Elephant might be quiet boring for some, not much action in camera work and not much violence, except the ending. In this movie you won't be bored for a second. The movie uses black white flashbacks and you can see things which have been happened to the 'victims'. In this movie you get also strait facts of things which really happened on high schools. You should watch this movie, take it with you to school, watch it in your class and discuss it with your classmates and teacher. I give it a 9,9 and i can't believe this movie isn't well known and not rated high.

Uwe Boll does drama. No, seriously.

[BroadswordCallinDannyBoy · 6/10 · 6 April 2006]

A look at the difficulties of high school life. The film takes place during a climatic last day of the school year and through ominous black and white flashbacks there are hints at the trouble that has been brewing.

Directed by the infamous Uwe Boll this is a surprisingly good film. While the acting is at times second rate and the hard rock soundtrack seems sorely misplaced during some moments, though not all, the film is pretty involving. Mainly through its flashback structure, the audience is placed hours away from a climatic event without knowledge of what will happen and bit by bit the past is revealed and we get an understanding of what is tragically imminent, kind of like in a Greek play.

There are also a few interesting shots - particularly the opening long take that ventures down a street including in and out of a house. The other major surprise is that Boll is at the helm. His crap video game adaptations are known for their brainlessness but this is significantly different and shows that he has (or at least had) some good film making ideas. The ending is also typical Boll - the film tries to outrun itself by turning into a big political statement and the catharsis seems underdeveloped for the characters and overly large for the film itself. And the kicker is that Boll uses - get this - narrated titles to make that statement. Though the presentation of media coverage was interesting and he should have stuck with just that as there is no need to state the obvious. It is that, and the few other annoyances, ultimately push this what could have been a good hard drama down to the "close but no cigar" category.

So Uwe Boll took a step in the right direction, but, since then, has somehow decided to take the road more traveled, crappy action movies, and that has made all the difference. 6/10

Rated R: violence, profanity, drug use, and a rape.

Beautiful Movie

[missfruztiez · 10/10 · 5 January 2005]

I honestly really loved this movie. It's one of the best and real movies i've ever seen. It really touched me (and hardly any movie actually touches me). The movie makes me very glad that i don't live in USA, and i don't think it will make me want to move there too. I'm still at high-school myself, and i'm very glad that things like that don't happen at our school. Yes, my French teacher can be really mean sometimes and yes, i'm sure there were people on our school who used to get bullied, but people like the bullies at the school in the movie really need help, there is something wrong with them! I think it's great that it's shown that those mean people also have feelings: you see the worst bully back off when his brother tells him about the girl they raped. I also think it's great that the movie confronts the people with the fact at the ending, all the kids who killed people at school really freaked me out.

The only thing i didn't like was that it was such a short movie! Only 87 minutes. But i still give this movie a 9.8 out of 10, at least! Brilliant, completely underrated movie, i think anyone who is interested in these kind of stories should see this movie.

Uwe Boll has directed 3 of the worst films I have ever scene

[wesleybh · 7/10 · 13 April 2010]

I forgave Boll for the three abominations that were HotD, AitD, and In the Name of the King. As I finished this movie, I actually forgot this was an Uwe Boll film. This was terrific and moving, but it does have its flaws.

Heart of America tells the tale of three high school students who are beaten by the jocks of the school. It is the last day of school and the movie is filled with flashbacks that develop the characters rather nicely. You love some, hate some, feel sympathetic to some, and some make you laugh. The story is filled with all the situations that could go wrong on the last day of school, a pregnant girl and her boyfriend trying to make her happy, a cheating boy friend, meth, abusive parents, and some other stuff that I won't spoil.

The acting was sub par at parts and the script was ultimately weak at points. Though, some parts were very well done.

The ending left me in a moral bind, who should I hate? Whose actions were justified? This is Uwe Boll's best movie, and that IS saying something considering that I would recommend this to anyone who wants to see a thought provoking, moral dilemmaing film.

A run of the mill version of Elephant

[SnoopyDogDog · 7/10 · 16 December 2020]

I wanted to watch this one because of Michaela Mann, and I didn't know what it was about. After seeing it was Uwe Boll directing i was a little surprised to so many reputable and excellent actors: Moss, Prochnow, Muldoon, Fletcher, Will xXxX and Paré The movie is clearly about Columbine, just like Gus van Sant's "Elephant" is. However, HoA lacks the quality and artistry of Elephant. And also, it lacks guts, given the conclusion at the end when the reporter DARES to blame computer games for school shootings rather than bullying and availability oof guns. Europe has just as many computer game players, Japan has extreme bullying, neither has a smidge of the American school shooting numbers. So, this movie breathes mediocrity: it's a dumbed down version of Elephant, a straight and very predictable flick. The actual horror is unintentional and comes at the end when several school rampages until 2002 are listed and their death count seem insignificant compared to the rampages in the 2 decades after, Florida, Virginia tech, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Breivik and Dylan Rooff

The king of overkill strikes again.

[jaywolfenstien · 2 February 2008]

"Why do I watch these movies?" people ask, "especially if you already know the director has a tendency to produce crap!" Simple Answer: there's more to learn from something done badly than something done brilliantly.

The lesson once again is "lack of restraint." If you as an artist find yourself wondering where that invisible line is where things go from "good" to "too much" then I must urge you to pick up one of Boll's films where he boldly crosses that line so you don't have to. And before too long, indeed, we're being introduced to too many characters set in a high school so I bet you can guess the dozen stereotypes before seeing the film. Don't need an introduction, much less any development for these stereotypes, right? Too bad. Not only do you get introduction, but everyone's role gets spelled out so thoroughly that everyone gets that metaphorical name tag. I'm sorry – I shouldn't use the word "metaphorical" in a Boll review. It'll give the false impression of sophistication and subtlety both of which the director lacks.

And since these characters lack sub-text, Boll attempts to create interest by cutting away from a scene prematurely not unlike those hack-storytellers whose narrative goes something like this: "…the girl reached the dark and creepy door at the end of the spooky corridor, she reaches for the handle and THEN … meanwhile, Billy up the street …" And not only do we get a full entourage of characters who need no introduction, we also get full blown back-story on a number of them complete with black & white flashbacks haphazardly intercut with the present narrative. Take for example what should be a powerful flashback when the typical class losers are subject to humiliation and harassment from the bullies. This is intercut with the painfully long and monotonous series of shots of our loser/shooters … walking … and walking … and walking. You could almost – almost – stick it in a comedy, and it could be a joke about how long it takes the character to get from point A to point B (you know, cut to a wide shot and show that it took him an hour to go five feet.) That said, it's amazing both how much and how little power remains in the film. The power that is there is, no doubt, attributed to the relevance of school shootings in American society. It's simply inherent to the subject matter just as a movie about Pearl Harbor would have been in 1942 or a movie about 9/11 released in 2002. Not even Boll's passion for ODing good concepts on steroids until they become hideous freaks of nature like Barry Bonds can't completely drain the power. That said, given the subject matter and the time spent building up to the actual shooting, it's amazing how little impact the film's climax has.

Perhaps one reason lay in the contrived "surprise" that the film spoils almost from the opening scene. A kid wakes up to a phone call. "It's the last day of school. Don't punk out on me." And he immediately powers on his computer so the same things can be exchanged in an IM. Why? Because it's easier to hide the identity of the last shooter if communication is only shown via computer screens. As the lead shooter is getting the guns, he looks up to his off-screen accomplice and smiles, "I knew you wouldn't punk out on me." And I'm left wondering, "Gee, Boll is going through great pains to not show someone's face … I wonder which of these spelled-out characters it could be?" Just like many films of this nature, the ending features a superimposed paragraph (which gets read to us by an unseen narrator) about a real school shooting … then another brief paragraph about another real school shooting … then another … and another … and another. Once again, a nice ending spoiled by the fact that Boll doesn't know when to quit and his knack for taking good ideas to a ridiculous self-parody caliber extreme. And that, dear readers, the upcoming film Postal just might work.

Thoughts

[thehustleusmc · 7/10 · 28 October 2022]

I'd say the movie is good. A few of the characters could've been more interesting, the main bully was definitely a good choice for this film especially when certain characters have questionable acting at moments. The factors that can lead to tragedies in the film were fairly highlighted, which are depicted in much more detail compared to the movie "Elephant" we understand the intentions and emotions of our main characters fairly well which is something that the movie "Elephant" also lacked in its ways. Certain parts of the film left me bored, this is illustrated in the dialogue between the jock and his girlfriend along with the girl and the teacher (guy in the brown jacket) I felt like the screen time between those relationships could've been limited as they didn't serve as much as an integral part in the film as the director initially believed.