The film takes you on a journey throughout the morning at a seemingly typical suburban high school. Along the way we get to know and follow around a few of the main characters. Hardly anything makes these students unique, as they are merely the archetypes fit in to serve the director’s vision. We see nerds and popular kids, athletes and shy loner types. We also see the two young men who have decided to raise some hell and eliminate some of their peers.
Elephant is about as hands off as you can get with being an examination of school violence. It portrays the very basic information that we received from investigations into the Columbine killers’ lives and their victims. No satisfying cause is given for why these boys take the lives they do. Just like in real life, we’re left to ponder why and how our youth can turn on each other, making the film either insightful or frustrating, depending upon the viewer.
You would think that an 81 minute long film would fly by all too quickly, but Gus Van Sant’s muted tale of a high school shooting feels like a normal running time film. In just a short stretch of time, Van Sant manages to craft a collage of high school life that, while partially stereotypical and cliché, often reflects the reality of modern youth. 
