Elephant

The fictional Elephant casually strolls through a mundane lunch hour in a Portland high school before tragically exploding into a Columbine-like student massacre. Walking through the monotony of a regular high school day, director Gus Van Sant mixes intersecting points of view leading up to the slaughter. Students yawn through class, girls gossip through the hallways, and bullies punch through outcasts, until two students go on their premeditated rampage. The slow pace arms the inevitable conclusion with an even more powerful punch, but the movie is the only worthwhile watch here. The lone featurette, “On the Set of Elephant,” delivers an abstract look behind the scenes, with a musical soundtrack and pictures of the untrained high-schooler cast fooling around. But a decided lack of interviews with the cast and director—or any other supplements, for that matter—make this must-see movie a must-rent DVD.