To coincide with *Stato contro Nolan (un posto tranquillo)*—a play by Stefano Massini directed by Alessandro Gassmann that explores the relationship between violence and American gun culture—the film series presents *Elephant* by Gus Van Sant, winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Film and the award for Best Director at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.
Elephant
Gus Van Sant, 2003
81'
!
Reservations are required
Italian version
Elephant
Gus Van Sant, 2003
81'
!
Reservations are required
Italian version
Loosely based on the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, Van Sant’s film addresses the issue of youth violence with a stripped-down, non-judgmental perspective, constructing a fragmented narrative that follows, in near real time, the paths of various students throughout a seemingly ordinary day.
Through long takes, fluid camera movements, and a circular narrative structure, *Elephant*
eschews any single psychological or sociological explanation, choosing instead to convey the unsettling ordinariness that precedes the outbreak of violence. The stretched-out time and detached perspective amplify the sense of suspense and inevitability.
The film seeks neither answers nor culprits, but invites the viewer to confront the opacity of reality and the impossibility of reducing a traumatic event to a single cause. The result is a disturbing and contemplative portrait of adolescence and contemporary society, in which violence appears as a latent possibility, embedded in everyday life.
Elephant
thus stands out as a radical and unsettling work, capable of transforming a news story into a hypnotic and disturbing cinematic experience—one of the most significant films of the early 2000s.
As part of the festival
Parallel Visions
Partner principale LAC edu
