Elephant

Can we address the Elephant in the room? With no distinct character arcs or structure, Elephant's seemingly biggest flaw is its aimlessness; the fact that it says nothing about the life of these teenagers or the terror that unfolds in the span of two days But in its aimlessness, Elephant achieves a horror that might be the most terrifying i've ever seen. Once we reach the school, step upon step is riddled almost instantly with a sense of terror and paranoia. We have to stand by and wait as the lives of these students, as mundane, blissful, or joyous as they may are, get put into the hands of two misguided kids who get firearms through a pop-up ad. As these kids enter the school one by one, their dynamic frame comes to a halt and ends on a wide shot of the school, almost symbolizing that their story, their souls, might never leave there. But thats not it. Elephant's true horror doesn't come from its perfect type of deadpan filmmaking or even the great tragedy at the end. It comes from the fact that this specific type of terror can happen to any one of us. Remember when I said it had no meaning? It doesn't need one. Gun control is common sense, and school shootings are senseless.