''Elephant'' is a 2003 American
psychological drama film written, directed, and edited by
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultur ...
. It takes place in the fictional Watt High School, in the suburbs of
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, and chronicles the events surrounding a school shooting, based in part on the 1999
Columbine High School massacre
On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. ...
. The film begins a short time before the shooting occurs, following the lives of several characters both in and out of school, who are unaware of what is about to unfold. The film stars mostly new or non-professional actors, including
John Robinson,
Alex Frost
Alexander Robert Frost (born February 17, 1987) is an American actor best known for his roles in ''Elephant'' and ''Drillbit Taylor''.
Early life
Frost was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended high school at the Arts & Communication Magnet ...
, and Eric Deulen.
''Elephant'' is the second film in Van Sant's "
Death Trilogy"—the first is ''
Gerry
Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
*Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...
'' (2002) and the third ''
Last Days'' (2005)—all three of which are based on actual events.
Although ''Elephant'' was controversial for its subject matter and allegations of influence on the
Red Lake shootings
The Red Lake shootings were a spree killing that occurred on March 21, 2005, in two places on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Red Lake, Minnesota, United States. That afternoon, 16-year-old Jeff Weise killed his grandfather (an Ojibwe tribal ...
, it was generally praised by critics and received the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
at the
2003 Cannes Film Festival
The 56th Cannes Film Festival started on 14 May and ran until 25 May 2003. French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer Patrice Chéreau was the President of the Jury. The Palme d'Or went to the American film ''Elephant'' by G ...
, in which
Patrice Chéreau
Patrice Chéreau (; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ...
was the head of the jury.
Plot
At the start of the film, John McFarland is being driven to school by his father, who is driving erratically down the road. Noticing the damage done to the car, John realizes that his father is drunk and makes him move to the passenger seat so he can drive. When John arrives at school late, he is reprimanded by the principal, Mr. Luce.
The majority of the film is spent following several high school students going about their daily lives just before a school shooting. In addition to John, who struggles with controlling his alcoholic father, photography student Elias builds a portfolio of other students. Outcast Michelle struggles with her body issues and assists in the library. Bulimics Nicole, Brittany, and Jordan gripe about their parents and squabble while popular athlete and lifeguard Nathan meets with his girlfriend, Carrie. Acadia, a close friend of John's, attends a Gay-Straight Alliance meeting.
Unknown to anyone, two other students, Alex and Eric, are preparing to carry out a bomb/shooting attack on their school. Flashbacks throughout the film show them preparing for the massacre by ordering weapons online and formulating an attack plan. The two have a brief sexual encounter in the shower after they both admit that they've never kissed anyone before. Their motives for the shooting appear vague; the film provides evidence suggesting bullying, neglect, violent video games, and Nazism.
On the day of the shooting, the pair make their way to school in Alex's car. Alex is armed with a
Carbon-15
Carbon (6C) has 15 known isotopes, from to , of which and are stable. The longest-lived radioisotope is , with a half-life of years. This is also the only carbon radioisotope found in nature—trace quantities are formed cosmogenically by ...
and a shotgun while Eric has a
TEC-9
The Intratec TEC-9, TEC-DC9, KG-99 and AB-10 are a line of blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols. They were developed by Intratec, an American subsidiary of the Swedish firearms manufacturer Interdynamic AB. Introduced in 1984, the TEC-9 was ...
. As they enter the school, they encounter John, and Alex tells him to leave. Realizing what is about to happen, John tries to warn students and teachers outside not to go into the school, but few people listen. He then notices his dad is missing after they arrived earlier and goes looking for him.
Alex and Eric plant propane bombs in the cafeteria, hoping to blow it up and shoot people as they try to escape the fire. When the bombs fail, they decide to start
shooting indiscriminately. The pair head into the library, where Elias photographs them right before they open fire on students. Michelle is killed, while Elias' fate is left unclear. Other students quickly realize that the gunfire is real and begin to panic, and teachers begin evacuating students.
Alex and Eric split up to opposing ends of the school to continue their shooting. Alex enters the girls' bathroom where he surprises Jordan, Nicole, and Brittany, presumably shooting all three. A student attending the Gay-Straight Alliance meeting enters the hallway investigating the gunfire and is shot dead. The alliance members evacuate through a window save for Acadia, who freezes at the sight of her dead classmate. Benny, an African-American student athlete, finds her and helps her out the window before deciding to find and confront the shooters.
Outside the school, John finds his now sobered-up father, who tries to comfort his son as the shooting continues. While helping students escape, Mr. Luce is cornered and threatened by Eric, prompting Mr. Luce to try and reason with him. Benny walks up behind Eric, but Eric abruptly turns around and shoots Benny dead. Eric tells Mr. Luce not to treat kids like him and Alex poorly. He then lets Mr. Luce go, only to gun him down seconds later.
Alex enters the cafeteria, which is strewn with overturned chairs, backpacks, several dead bodies, and numerous abandoned half-eaten lunches, and sits down. Alex picks up a cup from an abandoned lunch and casually drinks from it. Eric meets up with him, and they have a brief conversation about who they've shot, which ends when Alex shoots Eric mid-sentence. Alex leaves the cafeteria, showing no emotion over killing Eric, and discovers Carrie and Nathan hiding in a freezer. He tauntingly recites "
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—which can be spelled a number of ways—is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the ...
" to them to decide whom he should kill first. The film then cuts to credits leaving the ending ambiguous.
Cast
*
Alex Frost
Alexander Robert Frost (born February 17, 1987) is an American actor best known for his roles in ''Elephant'' and ''Drillbit Taylor''.
Early life
Frost was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended high school at the Arts & Communication Magnet ...
as Alex, the more intelligent of the two killers, implied to be the one in charge. He is an accomplished but frustrated
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
and sketch artist. He and Eric kiss before the massacre, both citing the fact that they had never been kissed.
* Eric Deulen as Eric, a
slacker
A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic.
Origin
According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early t ...
, Alex's friend, and the other killer. He is less intelligent than Alex, and Alex is obviously aware of this. He is shot in the chest by Alex near the end of the film, while talking about whom he had killed earlier.
*
John Robinson as John McFarland, Alex's friend who has trouble at school while managing his
alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
father. Alex warns him to stay away from the massacre.
*
Timothy Bottoms
Timothy James Bottoms (born August 30, 1951) is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the lead in ''Johnny Got His Gun'' (1971); Sonny Crawford in ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971), where he and his fellow co-stars, Cy ...
as Mr. McFarland, John's alcoholic father.
*
Matt Malloy
Matt Malloy (born January 12, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has appeared extensively on television, film, and radio. Malloy's break-out performance was his co-starring role alongside Aaron Eckhart and Stacy Edwards in the 1997 bla ...
as Mr. Luce, the
principal of the school. Cornered by Eric, who briefly spares him, he is presumed dead after being shot several times.
*
Elias McConnell
Elias Comfort McConnell (born 1985) is an American former actor and model from Portland, Oregon, known for appearing in the 2003 film, ''Elephant''.
Career
In 2003, McConnell played a character of the same name in Gus Van Sant's film ''Elephan ...
as Elias, a
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
student building his portfolio with portraits of other students.
* Nathan Tyson and Carrie Finklea as Nathan and Carrie, a popular
lifeguard
A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...
/
football player
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
and his girlfriend. Alex taunts them with
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"—which can be spelled a number of ways—is a children's counting-out rhyme, used to select a person in games such as tag, or for selecting various other things. It is one of a large group of similar rhymes in which the ...
.
* Kristen Hicks as Michelle, a
nerdy
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tech ...
girl ashamed of her body. The film follows her through the locker room and into the
library
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
where she assists, it is there that she is the first to die in the massacre.
* Brittany Mountain, Jordan Taylor, and Nicole George as Brittany, Jordan, and Nicole, three
bulimic
Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eaten ...
girls who talk incessantly, gripe about parents, and squabble with one another.
* Bennie Dixon as Benny, an athletic student who helps Acadia escape out of a window before approaching Eric. He is shot and presumed dead.
* Alicia Miles as Acadia, a close friend of John and a member of the
Gay-Straight Alliance. She is assumed to have a
panic disorder
Panic disorder is a mental disorder, mental and Abnormal behavior, behavioral disease#Disorder, disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by reoccurring unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear th ...
which causes her to freeze and break down in times of fear or stress. During the shooting, Benny discovers her standing still in a classroom and helps her escape from the school and the shooters.
Production
The film began as a
documentary that Van Sant had intended to make about the
Columbine High School massacre
On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. ...
; eventually, the idea of a
factual account was dropped.
''Elephant'' was filmed in Van Sant's hometown,
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, in late 2002, on the former campus of Whitaker Middle School (previously
Adams High School). Whitaker was closed by the Portland Public Schools in 2001 due to structural problems and safety concerns with the school building. The Whitaker/Adams building, completed in 1969, was torn down in 2007.
There was no initial script before the filming started. The script was "written" to its final form during shooting, with cast members
improvising
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
freely and collaborating in the direction of scenes. It was shot over 20 days.
JT LeRoy
Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a tee ...
(a pen name for author
Laura Albert
Laura Victoria Albert (born November 2, 1965) is an American author who invented the literary persona JT LeRoy, whom Albert described as an "avatar." She published various works of purportedly autobiographical fiction under the LeRoy name bef ...
) is credited as an associate producer for the film.
Title
The title ''Elephant'' is a tribute to the 1989
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
, in which several blind men try to describe an elephant, and each draws different conclusions based on which body part he touched, and Van Sant's film uses that interpretation, as the same general timeline is shown multiple times from multiple viewpoints. Later, Van Sant discovered Clarke's film referred to the phrase "
. Van Sant's
style and use of tracking shots mirrors Clarke's film.
A drawing of an elephant as well as an image of an elephant on a bed throw can be seen in Alex's room while he plays the piano.
in May 2003. Van Sant claimed audiences in attendance at Cannes argued over its quality, leading to altercations.
''Elephant'' received mainly positive reviews from critics and has a score of 73% on
based on 160 reviews with an average rating of 7.10/10. The critical consensus states "The movie's spare and unconventional style will divide viewers." The film also has a score of 70 out of 100 on
praised the film and gave it 4 out of 4 stars writing "Gus Van Sant's ''Elephant'' is a violent movie in the sense that many innocent people are shot dead. But it isn't violent in the way it presents those deaths. There is no pumped-up style, no lingering, no release, no climax. Just implacable, poker-faced, flat, uninflected death.
said it was hard to make an anti-war film because war was exciting even if you were against it. Van Sant has made an anti-violence film by draining violence of energy, purpose, glamor, reward and social context. It just happens. I doubt that ''Elephant'' will ever inspire anyone to copy what they see on the screen. Much more than the insipid message movies shown in social studies classes, it might inspire useful discussion and soul-searching among high school students."
that occurred in 2005 were briefly blamed on the film, as it was viewed by gunman
17 days prior to the event. A friend of Weise said that he brought the film over to a friend's house and skipped ahead to parts that showed two students planning and carrying out a school massacre. Although they talked about the film afterwards, Weise said and did nothing to make anyone suspect what he was planning.
'', a documentary about gun violence in America with emphasis on the Columbine massacre
* ''
'', another film inspired by the Columbine High School massacre made in 2003
* ''
'', a 2020 film follows a high school sieged by a quartet of school shooters.
* ''
'', A 2021 film involving grieving parents who meet to discuss the aftermath of a school shooting