April Showers

Andrew Robinson's "April Showers" is like Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center." We relive a day that stunned the world. We look for triumph over tragedy at the most intimate level.

It is an intense film. The MPAA found its content disturbing. I disagree. What they meant was that it unlocks the deepest feelings of innocence lost.

The softest targets, we all are. Protectors unprotected. The hero inside ignored. The survivor looking over the dead. The dead looking over those still standing.

The history of the world in fewer days than God took to create it.

And who is left to create charity, hope, and faith?

The answer comes from a director with a sure hand, in real life a young playwright at Columbine High School 10 years ago whose next leading lady was to be a student named Rachel Joy Scott.

Brave of the director to attack this sort of subject and for not glorifying the "bad guy(s)" However that is where the compliments end.

The idiotic shaky camera syndrome just annoys the hell of of many people.. the character development is shallow at best. Acting is well.. as one other review said very "after school special" and I'd have to agree.

The entire film really is a failure in the end since it lacks what is necessary to really tie things together properly.

Oh and before someone gets on the soapbox about "it's the guns" (which is inevitable on this subject. It is not and nor has it ever been. Yes tragedies happen with seriously mentally ill psychos. But this is a classic example of how moronic a "gun free zone" is.

If even some of the teachers had been armed this sort of thing could have been stopped much faster and w/far less loss of life. Same as many other incidents of this nature. No one can predict such an incident.. but we all can certainly prepare to handle such infinitely better.

All of that said.. I as most others feel for the victims of such incidents. Most everyone wishes such things never happen ever. But that is simply not reality.

The most poignant part of this entire effort is the list of those lost to all of us at the end. To those I would say we all should salute them for their sacrifice and/or bravery. But not a tear will I ever shed for those killed that perpetrate such crimes.

I decided to watch this movie only because i was sort of doing a research on School shootings these days. However, starting from the very first moment, this movie depicts intense situations in a man's life where the brain definitely doesn't work, a time when you have to make a quick decision as if you want to run for your life or stay back to save others, you will see people doing both of these.

And then, how would it feel to lose the loved one, whom you couldn't even tell that you love her, when such an intense feeling of extreme love is abolished not by separation, not by successful rivals, but by death! An easy way to test your emotional factor, if it didn't make you cry even once, you certainly lack emotions..

This shouldn't be a 'bad' movie.

There was nice production value for a no name project. The acting was what I expected from an indie project of said nice production value; a little bit above high school drama club, but just a shade below B-list actors. The concept of gaining insight into the aftermath of school shooting intrigued me; especially if that insight is coming from a survivor. The story was...a melodramatic Lifetime movie at best, but that's not necessarily a negative thing, considering this is a debut project.

Like I said, this shouldn't be a 'bad' movie.

Where does it go wrong?

Religious subtext.

Why make a movie that's meant to give people insight if you're going to exclude half your audience with blatant Christian overtones?

What is the theme here? That one can only comprehend tragedy through piety? There's no reason this film should take any standpoint that isn't subjective; but then again, within reason, there should have been an objective viewpoint. And that's why this movie with a lot of promise behind it will remain encased in a small clique of individuals who are either tied to the project or agree exactly in line with its ideology and simplistic lens, rather than reach out to the masses as it should.

Saw this film at the premiere in L.A. It was much more than I was expecting. It is a very emotional story and it is realistically done. Its treatment of school violence is very important for the youth of America and, for that matter, the world's youth to see. I hope the U.S. rating of "R" can be changed or it will prevent young people from seeing it or could stop some theaters from screening it. It definitely should be seen by everyone, but especially teenagers.

The fact that it centers around the victims and the survivors of the tragedy and not the mind or motives of the perpetrator, makes it even more engrossing. I cannot think of another film on this subject that treats school violence in this moving and most accessible manner.