As Far As I Can Tell

I just finished watching Elephant, the new film by Gus Van Sant, now on DVD. It’s short, clocking in around 70 minutes, but incredibly powerful. The topic is school violence, and it’s approached in a more honest and direct way then any filmmaker to date has had the guts to.

The story is non-narrative, introducing you to a student and then following them around with long camera shots vis-à-vis Russian Ark. The perspective is often literally following, with the view being the back of the person’s head as they walk. The camera’s gaze wanders off to follow other people, creating a loose knit awareness of the interconnectedness between characters. Most importantly it creates a mood. While watching, it felt like when I’m incredibly sleepy and seem to be outside of myself observing my own actions. It’s dreamlike, putting you almost inside the people you’re following. Van Sant has managed to take the first person perspective beyond merely the visual or metaphorically clique and into a feeling.

I don’t want to get into too much detail since the anticipation and lazily built tension would be ruined. I just want to recommend that you watch it. School violence is a disturbing enough topic that it’s easy to push it aside and not think about it. This film brings it to the forefront without over generalizing or pointing fingers. Unfortunately it also doesn’t offer any solutions.