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| DVD Reviews. | | Date Created: Nov 16, 2004, 03:56 PM |
 Halo 2
OK, so it's not a DVD, but Brian got me a copy of Halo 2 for my birthday. Well, actually he gave it to me a little early so we could play it last night. Not very far into it, but so far...it RAWKS!
Elephant.
Brian has choir rehearsal on Sunday nights, so I get to watch movies that I want to see, but he doesn't. This Sunday's choice was Elephant, directed by Gus Van Sant. Briefly, this is the story of a Columbine-like shooting at a suburban high school.
I've been reluctant to see this movie because if its disturbing subject matter. As a former high school teacher, this isn't a subject I particularly want to dwell on, I suppose.
Using a steady-cam, Van Sant's movie follows, (and I mean follows) several characters, played by real high school students through a typical high school day. Many of the scenes, if you can call them that, are simply students walking from class to class. Several times, he shows the same events from different students' perspectives, and weaves the story through those moments. The film is largely empty -- empty of much dialogue, and empty of much in the way of color (the monochromatic high school hallways). The characters are often filmed from a distance, appearing small in a large open frame. There isn't plot here, really. Nor is there character development. This is a movie about images.
Van Sant is obviously quite taken with his actors. The lingering shots of the teenage male actors (but not the female actors) are a bit too obvious, I think.
Van Sant doesn't offer any answers here about why the shooters do what they do. He teases the audience with a few tidbits, here and there. He briefly touches on the easy answers that the media tries to shove off on us: violent television, violent video games, absent parents, but the brevity with which these things are shown lead me to believe he doesn't see them as the real (or at least the major) problems. That may be unsatisfying for some viewers, but I think it makes the movie tougher. Instead, the only possible explanation we get is, perhaps, the "death of a thousand cuts." At one point, one of the killers is explaining his reasons to the school principle, before shooting him, but that scene is interrupted with another, thus foiling our opportunity hear his explanation.
I'm not sure what the title "Elephant" refers to, though there are elephant images throughout the movie: there's a drawing on the wall of one of the killers' bedrooms, and one on his bedspread. The idea that it has something to do with Republicans and gun laws, while amusing, is pretty stupid. There is no obvious political agenda in this movie. Perhaps this is the "Elephant" in the room that no one wants to talk about? Or perhaps it is the "Elephant" described by 3 blind men, who all describe it differently, yet never completely?
The movie reminded me of a great book, Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School, by Elinor Burkett. For a year, Burkett got amazing access to a suburban (and unnamed) high school, interviewing students, parents, teachers, and administrators. She sat in on classes, PTA meetings, faculty meetings, and school board meetings. Again, the book offers very little in the way of the reasons for school violence, but does a great job presenting high school life, as it actually is today. I think it's a must read for anyone involved with schools: parents, teachers, administrators, and students.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Lots of people who like Star Trek missed out on Deep Space 9. It spent the first couple seasons in the shadow of the last seasons of The Next Generation. Most of the people I talk to said that they watched it here or there, but never really got into it. I was the same way, but over the last (many) months, Brian and I have been watching all of the episodes of all 7 seasons on DVD. Watching it this way allowed us to really appreciate what the cast and crew were trying to do. If you haven't seen it in a while, or never got into it, I highly recommend it. I really think this is (dare I say it?) the best of the Star Trek franchise. There I said it...let the flame wars begin!
Whereas the original series was "Wagon Train to the Stars" and The Next Generation was simply "Wagon Train to the Stars II," DS9 went well beyond that formula. It shows a gritty, not always likeable, ethically challenging image of life in the 24th century, where characters actually grow and mature, and things are not always wrapped up at the end of the episode. (Nothing annoys me more than The Next Generation reset button: everything gets wrapped up in the last 10 minutes and everything simply reverts back to life at the beginning of the episode. Don't get me wrong, there are some great TNG episodes, but as a series, TNG can't hold a candle to DS9.)
Before your eyes roll completely around in their sockets, I'm really not a Trekkie. I don't go to conventions. I don't wear pointed ears to work. I can't speak Klingon. But I do like decent science fiction. And, when all pistons are firing, Star Trek can be decent science fiction. See the great DS9 story "Far Beyond the Stars" for an example. Or perhaps the TNG episode "Darmok" for another.
Unlike the other series, DS9 has continuity and a plot arch that starts in the very first episode and doesn't end until the last. This is the story of Commander (eventually Captain) Benjamin Sisko, a man who is bitter and lonely after the death of his wife. He is posted to what he hopes will be a temporary assignment to command a space station that suddenly becomes one of the most important space ports in the quadrant. The story evolves, bringing with it a huge cast of characters, all of which get significant development along the way.
If Babylon 5 was, as some called it, "the last, best hope for TV science fiction," then DS9 is the last, best hope for Star Trek on TV. Unfortunately, the franchise has completely ignored it, and decided to focus the movies on The Next Generation characters instead. Too bad. |
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