It’s hard to feel anything but resentment when hearing the title Super Columbine Massacre RPG! Why would anyone intentionally make a video game about the gruesome 1999 school shooting that left 13 students dead? What could possibly be the goal of allowing users to take on the identities of the two shooters and proceed to go around slaughtering digital victims? Colorado native Danny Ledonne, who created this controversial video game in 2005, attempts to defend his actions by mounting Playing Columbine, to see just what kind of impact his work has made.
Over the course of the 90-minute documentary, literally dozens of people step up to voice their opinions. Some view Massacre as art, the next step in the evolution of video games as social commentary. Tim Winter, president of the “Parents Television Council,” suggests that if Ledonne was attempting to exorcise his own demons over having been bullied as a child, he should “put the game down” and “go to therapy”. Attorney and video game critic Jack Thompson puts forth the well-aired claim that video games “can be a murder simulator”.
It’s only when Melissa Fuller and Joel Kornek – both survivors of the 2006 Dawson College shootings – present their viewpoints that the documentary’s breathless pace slows and things fall into a relatable context. Fuller and Kornek question the international media for singling out Massacre as the motivating factor in Kimveer Gill’s decision to lash out, when his depression and self-imposed isolation went unnoticed in the months leading up to his meltdown.
Ledonne, who threw up upon hearing of Gill’s passion for Massacre, insists his only goal in creating the game and a companion website (complete with message board), was to “present a different perspective on the shootings, including all of the things the mainstream media either neglected or just flat-out walked away from presenting.”
Whether or not his game actually managed to reveal anything insightful is the big question hanging over the entire film. Ledonne never sees fit to provide his audience with a real rundown of its contents, perhaps hoping to pique our interest so we will download the game for ourselves.
As an overly emphatic rebuttal in a vaguely defined debate, Playing Columbine still manages to stimulate.
Playing Columbine (July 18th and 19th @ De Seve Cinema). See the trailer.
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Homegrown Hopes, French Virtuality, and Korean Grit
By Andrew Hlavacek
With Fantasia in full swing, it is timely to mention several upcoming potential gems. They represent two Canadian and one world premiere and each is screened only once.
From Québec comes the world premiere of writer/director Robin Aubert’s À quelle heure le train pour nulle part? (The Train to Nowhere), the story of a québecois man (Luis Bertrand) searching for his missing brother. After waking up in a motel room with clothing soaked in blood, he finds himself in New Delhi, India. Shot entirely on location using natural lighting and only one actor, Aubert’s unique project is being screened only once this coming Sunday, July 19th.
With portions of our lives played out on the internet, the boundaries between reality and the virtual world of cyberspace seem often to blur. The French writer/director duo of Nicolas Alberny and Jean Mach expand upon this theme in their first feature 8th Wonderland, to consider the influence an online community exerts after it creates a virtual country. What happens when the virtual country’s principles and interests directly oppose those of real world powers? With the folks at Fantasia comparing the film’s intensity to Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, the film should deliver some heavy sensory stimulation at the very least. Your one chance to log into 8th Wonderland is Tuesday, July 21st at 22:10.
In Breathless, actor/director Yang Ik-june unites a rage-filled petty gangster with a troubled teen girl in the netherworld of Seoul’s desperate and violent backstreets. With prize winning performances by Ik-june and his female co-star Kim Kkobbi, Breathless may just be the antidote to all of the supernatural terror haunting the screens. You can catch your breath only on Sunday July 26th at 22:00.
For more information please visit Fantasia International Film Festival.
