However, the idea that those damn ol' computer games might've been involved in it all, is a notion Van Sant takes very seriously indeed.
Characters walk through the labyrinthine corridors of the school like they were partaking in Duke Nukem or Lara Croft - Archaeologist. The camera follows them from behind as they turn this way, that way, and hovers above cars as they cruise through the streets in a GTA stylee. To emphasise this ponderment, we are granted screen-shots of a game played by one of the killers, one of those Doom-type 3D affairs, where a rifle protrudes from the bottom of the screen blasting all and sundry. Later we see that same camera angle, as the halls of the establishment are stalked for targets.
But regardless of whether or not the film is misguided in its assumption that violent-games equals violent-actions in reality, Elephant is a masterpiece.
It tells its tale via an Altman-esque multi-narrative, following one character, before slipping back to catch up on someone else, then heads forward in time to see what the first one got up to, and back again to focus on someone that just passed by for a second. It's possible that some may find this structure distracting, distancing, but The Duke found it to be exactly what was required. There are no lead characters, there are no group of pals who vow to lose their virginity before prom, provided they make it out alive, there are no bad guys and no good guys. Just average kids, making their way through life as best they can.
And this makes the foreknowledge we are granted both by the film itself, and by the surrounding debate of such, all the more unbearable. Because these characters are fully realised, they are human, and they are entirely believable. When shots start firing, it hurts.
And Van Sant doesn't linger on the brutality, either. The apocalyptic finale takes up no more than ten minutes of screen-time. Everything beforehand is about emphasising the tragedy.
There's a scene in the canteen that is unbearably tense, as three girls discuss shopping and make-up and similar diversions, whilst we know that the killers are just about to enter the school. The camera sweeps around the trio, peering out onto the grounds behind them, inviting the audience to scan every inch of the frame. We know what's about to happen, but these kids don't. When they decide to regurgitate their lunch in a startlingly routine, matter-of-fact manner, or when they head into the library to read up on photography, or take a walk across the path outside, we know they’re doomed.
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