Generation Columbine is a poignant look at the violence our children are susceptible to at school. While school massacres are nothing new to society, the frequency and intensity of them have become far more violent by nature. Generation Columbine reveals our society's shameless acceptance of school violence at a time when this scourge upon our children should be an after thought.
This film goes beyond reporting the terrible incidents of the dates we remember. The Columbine, Red Lake, Virginian Tech, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas to name a few; a very few.... The film encourages us to look at the lasting effects of the trauma these children, and the adults in their lives, are forced to live with in the aftermath.
NRA supporters and gun collectors will not likely approve of this film. Many of them are unlikely to appreciate the POV that victims of gun violence suffer PTSD and trauma that will affect the remainders of their lives. This is evidenced through the segments on survivors guilt and the associated suicides. For these people survival has been a worse death sentence than the murders of the victims on the days of the school massacres.
I rarely give 10/10 film ratings. However, this film earns it because the subject matter is important. The lives of those killed, and the lives of those who survived remain with us now forever. Too many lives have been lost in the many years school shootings have taken place. This should be expanded to say "too many lives have been taken in mass shootings."
One other comment here mentioned the December 30, 1974 Olean NY mass shooting. That shooting did not occur during a school day. No students were ever targeted. The shooter used the vantage point of a third floor club meeting room. 12 or so people were shot, three of them died. Each of them were over age 18. Most were first responders. In the years since the Olean tragedy guns have grown more technologically superior, ammunition is more effective with more accuracy as well as impact power. Guns of the 2020s are near perfect killing machines compared to Anthony F. Barbaro's Remington .30-06-caliber rifle used in Olean. I was in grade school near Olean when this happened. Barbaro's actions are still grieved in the area today.
Essentially, guns of today are designed as killing machines that are fer too easily adaptable to killing children as they study at school. Generation Columbine does not go down the rabbit hole in pursuit of a gun debate. This is thought invoking because they permit for the viewer to decide right vs wrong for themselves. This type of abstract reasoning is far beyond the mental capacity of those who are quick to judge the nature of this movie's message.
