In a school day in an American high-school, two deranged teenagers bring a couple of bags full of weapons and start shooting and killing the students and teachers. This tale of alienation and violence was visibly inspired in the shooting in Columbine, recently explored by Michael Moore in his awarded "Bowling for Columbine". However, on the contrary of the foregoing director that looks for guilts, reasons and motives for such an insane act, Gus Van Saint uses a hypothetical American high-school, with fictional characters, and two apparently normal teenagers to present this awesome low budget movie. He just shows how easy is to buy a weapon in USA. The unknown cast is magnificent, and the filming technique, with long sequences and traveling with the camera, is outstanding, giving the sensation of a documentary to the viewer. One point that I liked very much is that in most part of the movie, the viewer does not know who will be the responsible for the massacre, and many characters might be the future killer. For example, there is a girl very rejected by the class; there is a boy with a drunken father and unfairly punished by the principal; there are many other students with common problems of the adolescence. Gus Van Saint selects two of them to slaughter the others. Just for the records, another massacre has happened this week in a high-school in Bemidji, Minnesota. Considering that their country is constantly in war against others nations, being very explored by the media through powerful images on TV, and weapons are so easily achieved, I think that these might be two of the main causes for such behavior of a few problematic kids. I can not imagine how the parents of the victims of these two recent massacres in high-schools might feel watching this movie. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): "Elefante" ("Elephant")
Title (Brazil): "Elefante" ("Elephant")