1) What struck you most in the film? What struck me the most was the last scene. When one of the shooters kills his companion and goes to kill the couple of the jock and the pretty girl, who were hidden on the freezer. It has struck me because he decides which one to kill first by playing a child's play, and the movie director leaves us with intrigue of which one dies first.
2) What also impressed you? What also impressed me was the way this movie was made, by saying that I mean that many scenes were recorded again from different points of view. For example this one, was recorded three times, from the point of view of the three characters present in this scene (the photographer, the angel and the nerd girl).
3) Did you find anything more particularly upsetting? In my humble opinion, what is particularly upsetting is that innocents die, I'm thinking more precisely in the nerd girl, she's the first dying in the film just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
4) What did you find very disturbing? What I find very disturbing is that one of the killers (Alex) seems to have a normal life, he plays piano, video games, goes to school, in my opinion, at first sight it doesn't seem to be a killer, contrary to the other one (Eric), who looks like a bad influence to Alex, and the one who pushes him to do it. But, as the film elapse, we see that Alex is not as he shows at the beginning of the film, and he is even more involved than is companion, as he kills him at the end.
5) What was most shocking? The most shocking was for me, the way Alex kills his friend, he shows no emotion, he doesn't even look guilty, so we see no humanity in him, contrary to what I supposed at the beginning of the film, and in the scene of the shower, when they kiss, because we though that they maybe have feelings, but we were wrong.
6) What does the film suggest about the two school shooters? Above all, the film suggest that the tow school shooters have mental illness. Then, that they were bullied at school, left aside, nobody paid attention to them as they were invisible, so, that is why they conducted this massacre, to take revenge on the people who ignored them.
7) What's more, what does the film director make clear about the two killers? The director makes a clear distinction between Alex and Eric. Eric is shown as a bad guy, with no emotions and very aggressive as he plays very strong video games. Contrary to Eric, Alex is shown as a kid with maybe an opportunity to change, and we give him the benefit of the doubt because he looks like a normal guy, having breakfast with his mom, playing piano, attending school, there is nothing wrong with him in a first approach.
8) What kind of approach to the school shooting itself did Gus Van Sant opt for? Gus Van Sant goes for a realistic but also poetic film. He mixes this two different genres to create a very successful film, because by mingle this two types of genres he broke the terrific but realistic side of the massacre. The poetic scenes are made to relax the ambience and to show that the only place that is always calm is the sky. It also shows that after the storm comes the calm, in this case, the storm is the massacre.
9) Moreover, what's the main consequence of the realistic treatment he uses? What about the 'poetic' touches he instills throughout the film? The main consequence of the realistic treatment is that the viewer get very involved in the event, he feels the emotions of the characters, they put on the character's skin, and they become empathic. I think the poetic touches he instills throughout the film serves to break the ambience of desperation, fear to the viewer.
10) As a conclusion, what must we admit about the way in which the killing and the killers are perceived by the film viewers? As a conclusion, this events and their founders are seen as people with mental problems, that see this as a game, the only thing they have to do (as one of the shooters says in the film) is to have fun. We can also say, that this people have an easy access to guns, because in this particularly case, the two killers just entered a website, ordered them and got them on their hands a few days after.
