Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by jamesgarvin (A) on October 29, 2005 at 10:27:59

Gus Van Sant's 2003 film which won the director's prize at Cannes about the Columbine shootings, without specifically being about the Columbine shootings. A very simple piece of work. The camera follows high school kids around the school for the first one hour plus of the film. We see the jocks, the preppies, the good looking girl group, etc. As the students intersect, he re-plays certain scenes, then follows another student from the scene as they go about their travels.

Knowing about the film, we know that one or two of these student will go on a killing rampage, but we are left guessing which ones. Which, I think, is very smart, because, by all accounts, the perpetrators of the crime were not the type of students that people guessed to be murderers. I recently made the point that showing Hitler as being normal was important because his evil mind and deeds lurked in society, unbeknownst to those around him. Likewise, everyone we meet in the film seems normal, well adjusted, with not a hint of evil.

The dialog seem largely improvised, and the actors seem to be real high school kids, as opposed to young adults playing high school kids. The difference lends an air of real authenticity to the film. It seems as though we are eavesdropping on their conversations. The diaglog is that of normal high school kids.

Of course, the violence breaks out. But there is no glorification in the killing, no pumped up testosterone, and no glamour. It is simply two kids on a mindless killing streak. And the direction perfectly presents us those events. Van Sant apparently remarked that no one knew why the kids did what they did, which is true. Rather than, in typical Hollywood fashion, try to ascribe some motives or theory to the killings, or taking a predictable position, Van Sant simply lets the action unfold, without complicating the events.

The real events were that simple, so why should the film be any more complicated? It is hard to think of something so simple as so intelligent, but, there it is. I recommend the film for presenting a realistic picture of high school, and of a tragic event. Those needing a "message", or some human drama to complicate what needs not to be complicated should look elsewhere.