Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that Elephant is Gus Van Sant's Palme d'Or-winning drama, which is loosely based on the infamous 1999 Columbine high school shootings. It's deliberately mysterious and opaque, following several characters throughout the day and observing that they are all dealing with personal troubles, with little or no adult help. It contains some shocking violence, namely two teen boys shooting and killing people at school (with blood shown). Language is strong, but mainly during the final stretch, with several uses of "f--k" and "s--t." Teen couples are shown kissing, and two boys are shown showering and kissing (though seen only above the waist). There's also a very brief glimpse of a naked bottom in a girls' locker room. A teen's father is shown to have a drinking problem, and there's a brief scene of cafeteria workers smoking pot. Though rated R, parents might consider the movie as a discussion-starter for mature high school teens.

Sexual Content

Two teen boy shower together and kiss (they are shown through the shower door, waist-up). A teen girl's naked bottom is quickly glimpsed in a locker room shower scene. Other boy-girl teen couples are shown briefly kissing. Two romantic teens, having their photo taken, make reference to "naked pictures."

Violence

Two teens arrive at a high school with duffel bags full of guns. They begin shooting teens and teachers arbitrarily. There are dead bodies and lots of blood. As these teens prepare for their big day, they play violent shooting video games, browse the Internet for guns, and watch a documentary about Hitler. There's a scene of teens bullying another teen in a classroom (throwing wet, wadded-up paper at him).

Language

Most of the language comes during the horrifying final stretch, with upwards of a dozen uses of "f--k" and "s--t." Other words include "bitch," "hell," "retarded" and "oh my God." Some name calling: "loser."

Social Behavior

The "elephant" of the title refers to the idiom "the elephant in the room" that everyone ignores. The movie gives the sense that problems exist with teens and high schools, and that grown-ups are simply not present. Adults very rarely appear in this movie, and when they do, they are usually either part of the problem, or totally unaware of what's going on around them. However, aside from pointing this out, the movie doesn't offer any proactive suggestions.

Consumerism

Capri Sun is mentioned and seen.

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

A character's father is presumed to be an alcoholic, and drives his son to school drunk. The car swerves all over the road, bumps into obstacles, and gets scratched, but no one is harmed. In a very brief scene, two (adult) cafeteria cooks sneak off to smoke pot in a storage room.