20 'Controversial' Movies Everyone Completely Over-Reacted To
19. Elephant
The Film:
Directed by Gus van Sant, Elephant depicts a Columbine-like school shooting in a sparse, unconventional visual style with non-actors and a documentary-style approach. It won its director the 2003 Palme d'Or at Cannes.
The Controversy:
It's obviously a hugely sensitive and distressing topic, and inevitably the film caused some controversy. It was also alleged to be an influence on the perpetrator of the Red Lake School Shooting, which occurred in 2005.
Why It Was Wrong:
First of all, as a statement on the horrors of violence Elephant's success is debatable. It is disturbing and bold, but it's also frustrating, overly stripped-down and the school shooting scenes don't feel like a school shooting. Therefore, Elephant isn't always as disturbing as people say it is and that alone makes its controversial reputation feel over-hyped.
More importantly, it feels highly unfair to criticize something just because it's depicting a disturbing subject on screen. Many films meditate on difficult subject matter and they should be allowed to do this provided the treatment is respectful. Elephant, for all its faults, is a tasteful depiction of a mass-shooting.
The violence isn't gratuitous, the camera's perspective is neutral and the film doesn't side with the shooters. It isn't an exploitative film at all. Cinema always explores issues and tragedies very well, and there should be no limit on allowing the medium to do this.