American Tragedy

If you're looking for a documentary about the Columbine Tragedy from Susan Klebold's perspective, this isn't it.

While she is open about certain aspects of her son's life, she is not an open book. I didnt expect anything new or enlightening, but I was interested in hearing her speak about their lives up until April 20. Unfortunately, it felt like the filmmakers used her name & the tragedy to market an 80 minute Public Service Announcement about their ideas on Mental Health.

Lots of teenagers are depressed but almost none murder their friends and classmates in a murderous rampage. Mother is in denial trying to ease her conscience. Her son was evil.

While I appreciate the personal hell Sue Klebold had experienced, where was "Dad" in all this? Ignoring the role of the father, pretending that fathers have no bearing on the positive mental health of young men, will not get us to a place of enlightenment. Breathing exercises are not a substitute. If we're going to address this issue head on, then everything has to be included and this documentary is extremely insufficient in that regard. I believe Dylan's parents are divorced; what happened? Unfortunately, this documentary is painting an incomplete picture in that the male's influence is ignored.

It was significantly drawn out with a ton of unnecessary and super slow reenactments. While reenactments are fine and a typical part of stories like this, they are generally quick and to the point. That's not the case here and I lost interest less than halfway through. The story itself is interesting and deserves to be told but this missed the mark.

A movie every parent should watch. Any parent could find themselves in the shoes of Sue Kiebold. The movie demonstrates the struggles kids go through and how parents don't always see the signs. A real life drama highlighting the need for more focus on mental health...particularly with our kids. An eye-opener that all parents should see.