heart4arts

Independent movies or "Indie movies" have been a big part of my life for some time now.
When I was 14, my stepDad brought home an HDTV and for the first time in my life I rested my eyes on "The Sundance channel". Ever since that fateful day, I can't ever look a cliche Hollywood, blockbuster movie the same. It just doesn't bring the same thing to the table, it's empty compared to the life-like characters in an indie movie.When we think of a "Hollywood" movie, we think fast paced, action packed, dangerous adventures ect, ect.

Indie movies for the majority, do not rely on these factors to grab your attention. It's more of a mood. Usually the audience is the observer, and as you study the characters in a movie by following them through their lives you began to see how complex the characters are. Through the use of thoughts, narrators, friends,  and life like situations mingled with obstacles that analyze the psychological subtle nature of human emotions and contacts their world takes shape, and often began to mimic our own. 

Indie movies in my opinions are much more genuine then any other genre. "Indie" is a broad term of course but the impression most of this movies have on me, is a journey to understand what makes us human, and what keeps us going. Whether it's love, the mixed feelings of growing up and maturing, the twisted and sometimes difficult views of unpopular notions, or the eye-opening thoughts of a contradictions it's a psychological journey that silently evaluates the world through simple scenarios and characters. Sometimes the characters and the plots are much more complicated or very, very, simple, and the ending of these movies might leave you feelings unsatisfied but it's everything in between the beginning till now that matters. It's how we reached the end that's important.
  
Today I watched Elephant again, this time I saw the ending. It was vivid in it's horror, but like life it reminded me that sometimes our own lives don't always have happy endings.
It's a very simple movie following the lives of every day high school kids. The main characters are normal and average in every way, and so are their lives. If you are looking for something that gets to the point quickly you have the wrong movie. This movie builds it's momentum very slowly, and at first you barely feel the direction the movie is steering you in unless you know the influence behind the plot. Slowly after connecting with the characters and towards the end, unspeakable tragedy happens. It's interestingly melancholy to see how two average people can quickly accept the idea of murder so indifferently. Two people who look just like everyone else decide to kill.
This movie was based on the 1999 Columbine High School shootings. It received two awards, The Palme d’Or and Best Director awards in Cannes.

WARNING: Here is the Ending. I suggest watching the whole movie first, thought.



I'm not quite sure what made me write this, but sometimes I feel like I need a reality check in these type of independent movies do just that. Thanks to directors like Elephant's Van Gus Sant I regain perspective once more. Life isn't a world of fairy-tales it's bigger than that.