The Elephant in the Room

As the movie finished I glanced around my classroom. The students sat stunned, staring blankly at the ominous cloud background and fur elise music playing behind the credits. This film, a realistic depiction of a school shooting, was exquisitely made.

The entire movie made you think about movites, causes, and the pain high school kids endure. Obviously the killers must have gone through terrible ordeals in order to birng themselves to murder innocent people. But then one must think, what could have possibly happened to them that rendered them so unsympathetic and cold-hearted that even those who had never bullied a kid in their life should be brought to their death just for attending the same school? As director Gus Van Sant wanted us to relate to, I began to think about the Columbine inncident. Did it happen as the movie depicted? Was the day unlike any other? And where are all the adults while this is happening? It is the adults responsibility to make sure that teenagers in high school are treated fairly and allowed to act or feel however they want within legal bounds and not suffer from humiliation.

Aside from the excellent depiction of a school shooting, the cinematography was unbelievable. It was unlike anything I have yet seen in any movie. The movie gave the apperance of being unedited, having extremley long shots while the camera followed one character as they followed the days events, unaware of what was about to happen. As we could only see the back of one character's head at a time, it left the watcher uneasy because we had no idea of what was happening around them. Unlike other movies where this method might not have gone over very well, I can think of no other filming technique to better demonstrate the days events. We were introduced to one character at a time, not necessarily in chronological order, and we watched as each one of them was murdered. All except one, the innocent along with the 'guilty' were shot.

Not a single sane or admirable adult was shown on film. As the class watched in horror while the events of the day unfolded on the screen, I began to notice the elephant in our room. Had anyone acted in a way that could possibly drive someone to commit such an atrocity? Had any of us perhaps mocked innocently or stood by as an innocent kid was bullied, scarring them for the rest of their life? Awkwardly we all stood around. I know that I am no angel. I admit to have observed bullying a few times in my life and been too cowardly to stop it. All the while we consol ourselves - this won't be the straw, they can always endure more.

The elephant in my classroom stomped around mocking everyone in their seat. Who do we side with? Of course we can't agree with Alex and Eric. How they handled their pain was beyond the boundaries of normal psychological coping mechanisms. There is no excuse for how they acted ever, and it can never be offended. But we can never ignore the cause. Clearly something went wrong in their life and since this was based on true events there are mistakes happening every day that can no longer go ignored.

I hope this movie is an eye-opener for everyone who sees it. We must be aware of the events that unfold around us and we must do the right thing, always. Let there never again be an elephant of that magnitude in any room pertaining to this topic again.