High school is such a strange beast: It seems to be a much-romanticized time in one's life from a nostalgic perspective, yet when one is actually living within its hallways often the only goal is getting done and getting out. This is before complete and utter horror/tragedy is added into the mix. Considering all those factors, as well as the unflinching (yet also careful) style of filmmaker Laura Farber (herself a survivor of that day), "We Are Columbine" is one of the most affecting documentaries I have ever seen.
For a basic summary, this doc focuses on 4-5 students (and a couple of teachers) who were inside Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, when the two gunmen unleashed their reign of terror. The participants are interviewed extensively about their thoughts/feelings before, during, and after that day, as well as taken back to the school itself (many for the first time since graduation), producing an obvious flood of emotion as they re-enact their movements of that day.
Obviously, the Columbine tragedy (much like 9/11) will also stick out in the historical registers because the heinous act was the first of its kind (or at least the first that received enormous attention). Though school shootings have (horrifically, sadly, and intensely frustratingly) become more commonplace since 1999, 20 years ago it was something that just hadn't happened before on that type of scale. Because of that, it is indelibly burned into the cultural zeitgeist.
I think the hallmark of "We Are Columbine" is how Farber chooses to focus almost exclusively on the stories of those selected classmates. This really narrows the focus of the piece and makes it a tight treatise on how the event effected them all. In a rather astute decision, Farber spends a decent amount of time establishing who these people were even before 4/20/99, including what the Columbine HS culture was like. This is then contrasted with what their lives are like together, with the shooting incident being the fulcrum point in that transition.
It is absolutely harrowing to hear them tell their own unique, individual stories from that day and see how they deal with that part of their past. While relatively few people have been in that sort of scenario, we have all (for the most part) been to high school, thus making the settings, thoughts, and feelings intensely relatable.
I've seen a number of negative reviews for "We Are Columbine", which baffles me a bit (considered how emotionally affected I was by the material). I think what one must remember is that this doc doesn't set out to provide new technical information about the day of the shooting. Besides the emotions of individuals, no "new information" is unearthed here. But, I will argue, that unearthing of emotions from those who survived and are willing to tell their story is more than enough to hold interest all the way through (the runtime is only about 80 minutes as-is).
Overall, I found "We Are Columbine" to be one of the most emotional, hard-hitting docs I've seen in some time. I compare it to "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (the Fred Rogers doc) in terms of ability to tap into deep emotions both positive and negative. Don't go in expecting a blow-by-blow description of that day. Instead, allow yourself to be sucked into the stories of the students-turned-adults. If you can do that, you'll likely be as entranced as I was.
