10 Brilliant Movie Endings That Give You The Finger
9. Elephant
Gus Van Sant's Elephant is heavily inspired by a terrific BBC TV film of the same name, produced by Danny Boyle, directed by Alan Clarke and exploring the violence in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. That film famously provides no context to its violence nor does it give viewers any closure, and Van Sant's spiritual successor largely follows suit.
This one is a sparse, documentary-like depiction of a Columbine-style high school shooting, and one which is chillingly matter-of-fact in its presentation of violence. There's no catharsis, no particular context and no satisfying resolution - the movie abruptly ends while Alex (Alex Frost) is taunting two students hiding in a freezer, playing "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo" to decide who to murder first. Shortly before that, he's killed his fellow shooter without warning.
It's certainly not a satisfying ending, and it wasn't meant to be. The abrupt cut to the credits was a smart way for Van Sant to connote the senselessness of gun violence in modern-day America, as well as the lack of any end to the problem of school shootings. Over 20 years after Elephant's release, school shootings have, if anything, only got worse.