Elephant
1989 · 39m · UK
Directed by Alan Clarke
Tones: contemplative, dark
A stark, nearly dialogue-free depiction of eighteen sectarian murders in Belfast during the Troubles, filmed in long Steadicam tracking shots that follow killers and victims with cold, observational detachment.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Eighteen murders in long Steadicam takes, no context, no commentary, no relief — Clarke just makes you watch the elephant in the room until your eyes adjust. Brutal in the only way that doesn't feel cheap.
Clarke's Steadicam catalogue of Troubles-era murders is the formal blueprint Gus Van Sant openly inherited, and one of the bravest political films the BBC ever produced. The Vimeo channel link appears to load a different work, which is concerning.
Eighteen Steadicam-tracked killings with virtually no dialogue - Clarke's hypnotic repetition is the formal argument. Vimeo page metadata confirms the film survives but the channel link looks ambiguous; worth verifying playback.
Reviews
I remember lying in bed, watching it, thinking, 'Stop, Alan, you can't keep doing this.' And the cumulative effect is that you say, 'It's got to stop. The killing has got to stop.'
A shockingly frank depiction of the futility of sectarian murder.