Where is the anger? Having spent the better part of the last year researching and studying the tragedy at Columbine, I naturally turned to this movie as a part of that research and I came away from this a little torn...certain aspects of this film were chillingly realistic and added depth to my understanding while others were clearly uninformed and rushed. First, the viewer should know that this movie is not a documentation of the Columbine shooting...it does however use that crime as it's basis. Second, the viewer should also realize that even though it's based on Columbine, it's premise is what is thought to be in the Columbine "Basement Tapes" and relies on written opinions of those tapes and speculation. These are videos recorded by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold documenting the planning of the crime and are currently in lock up with the Jefferson County Sheriff's office and have been seen by only a handful of people.
We're introduced immediately to the protagonists and get a clear picture of what they're planning. The filming is entirely on hand held video (thus theoretically matching the Basement Tapes) which certainly adds realism to the film. They say that they are angry and plan to attack the school, but no evidence of bullying, mental health problems or egomaniacal behavior is presented and this I feel is the major drawback in this film. Granted, most of the major clues missed at Columbine were the result of Harris's and Klebold's apparent normal behavior but their anger ensued over time...time that obviously isn't available to the film's makers. The directors needed to establish a base anger in my opinion and then this film would have seemed a bit more believable.
Again, clearly using the evidence of the Columbine shooting, we follow Andre and Cal's progress in development of the plan...numerous similarities are noted to the actual crime. On the day of the "big ass mission" we see a short scene explaining their actions and apologizing for the coming events.The actual attack is covered by school video surveillance tape and has been confused with actual Columbine footage on many video websites. This is the highlight of the film as it presents a somber picture of what it may have been like inside Columbine...the viewer gets a surreal experience and should be discreet regarding watching this with children. The film closes with anger at a makeshift memorial set up for the victims, similar to the memorial erected at Clement park's Rebel Hill following Columbine.
This is a film not recommended for general view, but an essential one for understanding and experiencing what school shootings are like.
Was good and informative, but perhaps not entirely factual... I saw this movie and overall, it was good. But as a person who's been studying Columbine for years, some of the things that were reenacted might not have ever happened. The part in the library, for example, with each gunman's monologue. No one knows who said what, and who said what to whom. Parts of the film were not entirely factual. There were survivors who each had different versions of what happened. Many kids who were in the library didn't remember a lot of what happened because they were terrified at the time, and most people who face events as traumatic as the shootings have trouble remembering details. It was good, and the events were all true. The actual dialogue that was acted out could have been minimized, though. This was a very good film, nonetheless. One will learn a lot about Columbine while watching it, but beware of some of the things that are said during the reenactments. The journal entries that are recited, however, are word for word. I would still recommend it to people who are curious about the massacre.Don't eat the fish I thought this film was a talky, irritating mess, and felt I'd get more insight suffering through actual security cam and home videos of the Columbine kids. What I appreciated about the similiar themed "Elephant" was the amount of information revealed about the characters through visuals alone. "Zero Day" may offer more gritty, awkward teenage realism, but "Elephant" was able to somewhat relay the disturbed driving spirit behind the acts of violence, something even a flawed film like "Life Before Her Eyes" managed to do.Not without faults, but a must see. In this harsh reality of our existence, and this foul year of our Father 2008, we find the increasing hysteria around violence, school shootings, and teenagers carrying guns, not so much in the ghetto's and big cities of America, but in suburbia. The aftermath of events like that of Columbine and Virginia Tech echo only true emotions to the reality that we revolve ourselves around in and in that we find, 'Zero Day'
While the two main characters, Andre Kriegman and Calvin Gabriel, fitting like a glove to perhaps the days and months that prepared the real life Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who themselves made home videos, are ever present in the film. The pure tenacity, and testicular fortitude the two have is beyond maniacal. The opening segment alone, of the two as youth's, with the stellar opening song, is enough to set you up for a roller coaster of a trip.
Zero Day delivers in a way you would only expect it to. There is no need to expect a dynamite show of method acting and the like. We, as in other films of it's genre, see the life and times of two troubled teens, building an arsenal of weapons and coming from left field without a trace of worry from friend or family alike. However we are lead to believe, by the perps themselves, that they are not the end product of Grand Theft Auto Marathon's until the early next morning, or by-products of shows like 24 or the like. They take full responsibilty for their actions and make it clear in their videos, that no one is to blame, and no one could have prevented this. I think that is a very important mechanism in the film. As much as we want to protect our children, in the end, they will do what they want to do, right even under our nose.
In the hey-dey of horrid first person, cam-shooting genres like 'Blair ' and the horrible-as-much-as-you-want-to-candycoat-it 'Cloverfield', the film is not shifty, jaded or nauseous in anyway. In fact the camcorder shooting is quite appealing and very personal, as it should be. If you really let yourself immerse into the movie, you feel as if you were with the two boys throughout the whole planning of the massacre. You have front row seats into their zero day plan, their march towards victory, their own personal vendetta towards the how the other half walks. Their own chiming in on the world to let everyone know, they too will be remembered.
People might come here, and say the movie brings a strong message to all, that is should be a guide or an aid to what schools should be prepared for. Well in all reality, it should make the bullies, the jocks, 'Johnny Football Hero' who gets away with everything and anything because he is the town's pride and joy, and that stuffing Mike the Chess Player in the toilet after gym can have dire consequences. Not to say what happens in this movie or at Columbine was warranted, but you never hear about the torment these kind of kids go through, getting called names that could demoralize a youth for life.
I wont give anything away, but if you want something better than the Van Sant pederastic feel to a film like the incessantly juvenile 'Elephant', and something less surreal then 'Bang, Bang, Your Dead,' perhaps Zero Day is a shining example that you dont have to go to NYU or USC film school to get into the hearts and minds of movie lovers who really appreciate art in the form of pure, raw, commando-style filmmaking. Kudos!
Directed by Ben Coccio
A MUST SEE! 3.5 Stars.Zero Day DVD Excellent video a training to prevent or make others aware of this
As a form of entertainment, it is not designed for that, as it was set up in a diary format reliving the days prior to the shooting through the eyes of Harris and Klebold.
The movie is based of the actions of Harris and Klebold who were the gunmen in the Columbine Highschool shooting. The movie is an actual based presentation of the videos that were made by the suspects prior to that day. It does explain the amount of thought and action they put into this tragic event. They did there research! Makes you wonder how far they could have gone, and how much they could have accomplished had they put this effort towards something else.
This video deffinately teaches you allot.
It also let people know that it does not mean that the families of the suspects caused it or that it was a random event.
