Alexander Stuart

WARNING: THE ABOVE VIDEO CONTAINS HIGHLY DISTURBING AND VIOLENT MATERIAL, IN KEEPING WITH ITS SUBJECT MATTER. Anyone concerned about the ridiculous access to guns in this country should watch Gus Van Sant's remarkable 2003 film, Elephant, loosely inspired by the events at Columbine. The film, for the most part, has a strange semi-documentary yet almost lyrical feel to it (with some truly extraordinary Steadicam work throughout) - and captures high school life remarkably well. It also plays with time, subtly repeating events from different perspectives. The 10 minute extract here is pret ty much the culmination of the film - so if you want to watch Elephant all the way through, perhaps just stream or rent or buy it. But these images - all the more disturbing in the wake of the appalling tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown - capture something of the inanity, randomness and tragedy of mass shootings. And anyone who argues that guns don't ...