Character study interweaves different American's particular situations dealing with guns, and although there are some heartfelt moments and subtle touches of authenticity, this movie generally wastes the majority of it's time trying to get viewers involved with characters that are inadequately portrayed, with direction that is competent at best. While there are moments of surprising observation and relevance, throughout the movie most of these character's barely make a register on the viewers emotions due to the detached approach the filmmaker choose, I suppose as an attempt to emulate realism and lend the film some depth. Unfortunately, this backfires, as Avelino simply does not have the ammunition suitable to deliver the riveting drama he attempts here. While a few of the stories retain slight interest, no doubt due to the sometimes worthwhile cast, at least half of the plot here veers off to a tangent that really has no substance in dealing with the topic at hand, or the characters underlying emotions. Sutherland's chapter in particular seemed like a total throwaway for this movie, and completely under-utilizes the actor's immense talent. All and all, this is not a terrible movie. It addresses at least a few painful gun related issues lingering around the American psyche, but unfortunately it addresses these issues in a completely flat and unengaging way.
29 Reviews
Ended too soon
Screenwriter_Brandi14 May 2006
From the first time I heard about the movie, I've been waiting to see it. I finally saw it earlier tonight after begging my mother to order the movie on DEMAND. Like my title implies, the film ended too soon. I knew beforehand that it was only 95 minutes, but that's way different than actually watching it.
The characters - no matter how awful or sweet - somehow makes you love them in one way or another. You can't help but me sympathetic to each situation, because every character has something to offer. You will walk away learning something, no doubt.
To the ones who say they're tired of intertwining stories or whatever, this is one of the best films you could ever hope to witness with your own two eyes.
This movie is a true tale. I live like these characters almost everyday and I know people like that. So please give it a chance before you rag. I promise you won't regret it.
The characters - no matter how awful or sweet - somehow makes you love them in one way or another. You can't help but me sympathetic to each situation, because every character has something to offer. You will walk away learning something, no doubt.
To the ones who say they're tired of intertwining stories or whatever, this is one of the best films you could ever hope to witness with your own two eyes.
This movie is a true tale. I live like these characters almost everyday and I know people like that. So please give it a chance before you rag. I promise you won't regret it.
It is no "Crash" but it did fire me up at times!
meeza4 February 2007
It is no "bullet-shit" that the enthralling independent film "American Gun" does fire major points on the American gun control issue within its intertwining plot. However, it is also no "bullet-shit" that "American Gun" did misfire with one of its story lines. A la "Crash", "American Gun" includes various characters within several story lines that focus on a controversial social issue. What struck me about "Crash" was its creative precision to detail on how the social issue (in 'Crash"- racism) all interconnected. In "American Gun" there are separate situations that are "bullet-proof", but hold no fundamental connective qualities on the gun control issue.
Here are my on-target shots of "American Gun": 1) On target: Marcia Gay Harden was mesmerizing as a mother of a fallen youth assailant who murdered several students and teachers in school grounds three years ago. Her story focuses on how she combatively tries to overcome the tragedy , and her challenge to supersede the pain by avidly trying to support her other son. 2) On target: Forest Whitaker's captivating performance as a high school principal who is dealt with the challenge of a youth gun control problem at the school he pilots. In other words, "Run, Forest, Run" before your students run the asylum well-armed. 3) On target: Tony Goldwyn's golden acting duty portraying a police officer who is guilt-ridden that he could not be more proactive in preventing the aforementioned school violence tragedy. 4) On target: Novice Writer-Director Aric Avelino's film-making & screen writing machinery efforts in the School Gun Control and the Grieving Mother/Remorseful Officer story lines.
Here are the misfires of "American Gun": 1) Misfire: Donald Sutherland's phlegmatic performance as a gun owner who tries to connect with his alienated granddaughter. 2) Misfire: The aforementioned storyline which had no relevance or impact to the American gun control issue. In other words, it had me gunning for more.
OK, that's it! I am a gunner , I mean "goner" with this one! *** Average
Here are my on-target shots of "American Gun": 1) On target: Marcia Gay Harden was mesmerizing as a mother of a fallen youth assailant who murdered several students and teachers in school grounds three years ago. Her story focuses on how she combatively tries to overcome the tragedy , and her challenge to supersede the pain by avidly trying to support her other son. 2) On target: Forest Whitaker's captivating performance as a high school principal who is dealt with the challenge of a youth gun control problem at the school he pilots. In other words, "Run, Forest, Run" before your students run the asylum well-armed. 3) On target: Tony Goldwyn's golden acting duty portraying a police officer who is guilt-ridden that he could not be more proactive in preventing the aforementioned school violence tragedy. 4) On target: Novice Writer-Director Aric Avelino's film-making & screen writing machinery efforts in the School Gun Control and the Grieving Mother/Remorseful Officer story lines.
Here are the misfires of "American Gun": 1) Misfire: Donald Sutherland's phlegmatic performance as a gun owner who tries to connect with his alienated granddaughter. 2) Misfire: The aforementioned storyline which had no relevance or impact to the American gun control issue. In other words, it had me gunning for more.
OK, that's it! I am a gunner , I mean "goner" with this one! *** Average
Very worthwhile...
rdstr9002 August 2006
I disagree with the people who think that nothing sticks out in this movie.
I saw it and was amazed at some of the things that were said and shown.
Sure, there may have been some exaggerated intensity, but isn't that sometimes necessary to prove a point.
Do you think that the real lives of people who have to carry guns to school, are robbed at gun point, or live a threatened life are calm, relaxed, or peaceful? No. Those lives can be full of anxiety, violence, and much intensity!
I think this movie provides a great view of something that is ripping apart our society before our very eyes.
Hats off to the film makers!
I saw it and was amazed at some of the things that were said and shown.
Sure, there may have been some exaggerated intensity, but isn't that sometimes necessary to prove a point.
Do you think that the real lives of people who have to carry guns to school, are robbed at gun point, or live a threatened life are calm, relaxed, or peaceful? No. Those lives can be full of anxiety, violence, and much intensity!
I think this movie provides a great view of something that is ripping apart our society before our very eyes.
Hats off to the film makers!
Guns in America
sol121827 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS*** Somewhat disjointed movie broken down into three segments about how gun violence changed the lives of a number of Americans who were victimized by them with the exception of the one about gun store owner Carl Wilks played by a snow white haired looking Donald Southerland. It's Wilks who's granddaughter Many-Ann, Linda Cardellini, had undergone a traumatic experience back in her Virginia Collage dorm when her best friend Cicily, Schuyler Fisk, was knocked out by and raped by fellow collage student, Andrew Caple-Shaw, after he slipped a date drug into her drink. The only thing that guns have to do in this segment of the film beside Carl running a gun shop in having him teach Mary-Ann how to properly shoot one and prevent what happened to her friend Cicily not to happen to her.
The segment with burnt out inner Chicago high school principal Mr. Carter, Forest Whitaker, is more on the ball in how guns effect those who are involved with them. Trying to keep peace in his school Carter's home life is falling apart with him ignoring his wife and child in order to get honor student Jay, Arlen Escarpeta, to straighten himself out and not keep a gun, which isn't loaded, on him at all times. As we soon find out Jay needed the the gun on his after school job at a gas station and liquor store for protection not to mug or shoot anyone. And as it soon turned out it was in not having that gun on him, during an armed robbery, that almost cost Jay is life!
The third and most telling segment has to do with single mom Janet Huttenson, Marcia Gay Harden, who's oldest son Robert participated in a Columbine type high school massacre in Ellisburgh Oragan's Ridgedale High school. It's there where Robert and an equally kill crazy and mentally unstable friend of his gunned down some dozen students before killing themselves before the police could arrest or shot them. There's also local policeman Frank, Tony Goldwyn, who's been living with the guilt of doing nothing to prevent the massacre by standing outside the school, waiting for orders from his superiors, while the massacre was in progress. Besides Janet problems her younger son David, Chris Marquette, is now in danger of being thrown out of the St. Anthony private high school in her not being able to pay his tuition and ending up back in Ridgedale High where his deceased brother Robert gunned down some dozen students!
Somewhat confusing but still effective movie in how guns in America have changed the lives of those who both use and are the victims of them. Since the shootings in Virginia Tech in 2007 and the Aurora movie house in Denver Colorado and of course the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre last year the movie is far more timely now then it was when it was released back then in 2005/06. That's when it played in just one theater for 10 weeks and made under $25,000.00 in ticket sales.
The segment with burnt out inner Chicago high school principal Mr. Carter, Forest Whitaker, is more on the ball in how guns effect those who are involved with them. Trying to keep peace in his school Carter's home life is falling apart with him ignoring his wife and child in order to get honor student Jay, Arlen Escarpeta, to straighten himself out and not keep a gun, which isn't loaded, on him at all times. As we soon find out Jay needed the the gun on his after school job at a gas station and liquor store for protection not to mug or shoot anyone. And as it soon turned out it was in not having that gun on him, during an armed robbery, that almost cost Jay is life!
The third and most telling segment has to do with single mom Janet Huttenson, Marcia Gay Harden, who's oldest son Robert participated in a Columbine type high school massacre in Ellisburgh Oragan's Ridgedale High school. It's there where Robert and an equally kill crazy and mentally unstable friend of his gunned down some dozen students before killing themselves before the police could arrest or shot them. There's also local policeman Frank, Tony Goldwyn, who's been living with the guilt of doing nothing to prevent the massacre by standing outside the school, waiting for orders from his superiors, while the massacre was in progress. Besides Janet problems her younger son David, Chris Marquette, is now in danger of being thrown out of the St. Anthony private high school in her not being able to pay his tuition and ending up back in Ridgedale High where his deceased brother Robert gunned down some dozen students!
Somewhat confusing but still effective movie in how guns in America have changed the lives of those who both use and are the victims of them. Since the shootings in Virginia Tech in 2007 and the Aurora movie house in Denver Colorado and of course the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre last year the movie is far more timely now then it was when it was released back then in 2005/06. That's when it played in just one theater for 10 weeks and made under $25,000.00 in ticket sales.
A political diatribe
SquirePM8 February 2014
Whenever Hollywood decides to "teach America what it should think" the result is a lousy movie. And this waste of time is really a lousy movie. Why sacrifice an hour and a half of your life being lectured to by a film, when you could just read a Handgun Control, Inc. leaflet and get just as much misinformation? But at least you can see this one coming a mile away. Sometimes Hollywood's elite moralizers sneak the message in without letting on that it's a "message movie." I really hate it when that happens. "The Adjustment Bureau" (2011), I think it was, ended with an endless lecture about personal choice and personal responsibility, taking a merely goofy movie right down the drain.
I can't recommend this one AT ALL. I'd give it a "0" but IMDb will only let me rate it a 1.
I can't recommend this one AT ALL. I'd give it a "0" but IMDb will only let me rate it a 1.
You won't get any bang out of this one
rockdoc5908 October 2006
The film looks at the impact of guns and their violence in 3 settings- through the impact on the mother (Marcia Gay Harden) and brother of a Columbine High type shooter in Oregon, a frustrated school principal (Forrest Whittaker) in inner city Chicago, and in a gun store in Charlottesville Virginia with grandfather-owner (Donald Sutherland) and his granddaughter (Linda Cardinelli from ER). This movie is slow, dull, flat and disorganized. It makes no coherent points. Don't waste an hour and a half with it. The first effort for this director is a waste of everyone's time. The 2002 version with James Coburn is infinitely more lively and interesting.
Informative and compelling drama about real life.
LARSONRD4 March 2007
Another hard-hitting and thought-provoking drama. Director Aric Avelino examines guns from the perspective of four separate stories: Marcia Gay Hardin as the mother of an Oregon teenager who shot up his school, Columbine-like, and faces guilt and blame and scorn from neighbors, and worry about her other son, who is now the same age as the other brother when he performed his murderous act and suicide; an inner city school principal (excellently played by Forest Whitaker, who I was pleased to see won an Oscar last week for his role as Idi Amin in LAST KING OF Scotland) trying to stay on top of the school's anti-gun policy, with Arlen Escarpeta as an A-student carrying for his mom and family who feels he needs a gun for protection while walking to/from school; Tony Goldwyn as the cop who first arrived on scene at the Oregon school shooting and who faces community/media criticism for delayed response (again, very much based on Columbine); and Linda Cardellini who shines in a very convincing performance as a west coast girl displaced to a Virginia college who is working in her granddad's (Donald Sutherland) gun shot. All of the performances, in fact, are striking and through them the picture really has an emotional impact. The film, without comment, portrays these differing views of gun ownership, gun violence, school shootings, guilt, blame, etc., very nicely filmed and beautifully portrayed, its vignettes and its style leaving the viewer to establish their own viewpoint and opinions. The film keeps its personal viewpoint quiet, instead simply portraying a few aspects of American life impacted by the consequences of guns. Like American HISTORY X, I found this to be a provoking and stimulating drama about reality, choices, consequences, and inevitability, peopled by honest and real characters, superbly portrayed and beautifully composed.
Crash-lite
Knuckle27 March 2006
At the very least you have to give Steven Bagatourian and Aric Avelino props for being the very first kids on the block to jump on the Crash-Paul Haggis bandwagon. They may not be very original, but boy are they quick on the draw.
Take your (soon to be) standard template of multiple, disparate, interweaving story lines, add a dash of hard-hitting social commentary (guns, racism, sexism, whatever is hot), throw them all together, and pray something sticks.
Unfortunately in this case, nothing does.
What you get is a movie that comes off as disingenuous at best since all of the "facts" (gun-facts, single-mom facts, modern day high school student-facts) feel like they came from cursory research from magazines or books of the week. None of the situations or characters feel genuine and to be quite frank, the bulk of this movie is pretty darned contrived.
The social commentary provided by this movie isn't especially hard-hitting either. Whether this timidity comes from a reluctance to offend or their unwillingness to go too far out on a limb lest they be called on their B.S. assumptions about everything they are writing about is unknown. I'm willing to guess the latter since there is ample evidence in this movie of their ignorance of the subject they have chosen to give the Haggis-treatment.
1 out of 10.
Take your (soon to be) standard template of multiple, disparate, interweaving story lines, add a dash of hard-hitting social commentary (guns, racism, sexism, whatever is hot), throw them all together, and pray something sticks.
Unfortunately in this case, nothing does.
What you get is a movie that comes off as disingenuous at best since all of the "facts" (gun-facts, single-mom facts, modern day high school student-facts) feel like they came from cursory research from magazines or books of the week. None of the situations or characters feel genuine and to be quite frank, the bulk of this movie is pretty darned contrived.
The social commentary provided by this movie isn't especially hard-hitting either. Whether this timidity comes from a reluctance to offend or their unwillingness to go too far out on a limb lest they be called on their B.S. assumptions about everything they are writing about is unknown. I'm willing to guess the latter since there is ample evidence in this movie of their ignorance of the subject they have chosen to give the Haggis-treatment.
1 out of 10.
American gun, not loaded.
IRateFilms7 September 2006
The film American Gun seemed like it never started far after the end credits began running. It seemed like, what the director was trying to say, was never actually portrayed on screen. With the exception of a few sporadic and impressive performances, there is nothing American Gun really offers. After reading all the comparisons to Paul Haggis' Crash on the back of the DVD cover, I was very disappointed in the outcome of this film. Many may argue that this film shows the struggle that people go through, dealing with violence in America, but the film never actually gives us a solution. Obviously director Aric Avelino's debut tries to omit any solutions to the rapid gun craze in the United States. He even traps the audience inside of a gun store before the credits roll. Overall this was an amateur effort by an amateur filmmaker whom will hopefully turn out some better film in the future.
get bowling for columbine instead
wrlang10 September 2006
American Gun is a poorly titled film about how hard life is, and how people cope with tragic events. Parts are a take off of the Columbine massacre and details the lives of people involved before and after a similar event. The alcoholic mother and the brother of one of the killers, a cop that was first on the scene of the event and suffers PTSD. The vengeance oriented psychosis of the poorly equipped neighbors of the killer's family and the general public. A gun store owner and his grand daughter who is uncomfortable around guns but forced (somehow) to work at the gun store, a school principle living in a bad part of town working in a troubled school, some school kids that pass through a bad part of town as part of their daily life. The movie fails miserably trying to blame the lunacy of child killers and violent crime on the availability of guns. Violent and troubled people who want to kill are not logical thinkers; they see only the opportunity for violence and take it whether they use a gun, knife, car, or any other weapon. Not given the opportunity to get a gun, these people will inevitably resort to other methods of killing.
Please open your minds with American Gun!!
MICDI27 March 2006
I've read comment after comment and review after review saying this film is just a remake of Crash. Some even saying the director should receive some "props" from being so quick on the draw on capitalizing on this. However, anyone who actually follows films outside of what they read in People Magazine will know that this film was being shot BEFORE Crash, and had actually been completed as far back as June 2005. It is a film that was in pre-production a year before that. Unfortunately, the distribution company decide to hold this film from release until this past weekend, prompting hack critics to say it's just a knock-off of this year's "Best Picture" (also to be strongly debated).
This is a film that doesn't need to have a Hollywood ending. Is driven by such strong performances and directing that it leaves you motionless in your seat at its conclusion. A rare film that hits harder and harder with each repeat screening. I could go on and on about the performances of Marcia Gay Harden and Forest Whitaker (who by the way gives his best performance to date in this film), but what was even more impressive was the performances by the younger actors on screen. The Son of Marcia Gay Harden and the character "Jay" both blew me away by the quality of their performances.
American Gun is well worth the money. Please don't be closed-minded and see this film as just a knock-off of Crash. Just because a movies is released after another film DOES NOT MEAN that it was made after that film. It's just bad luck for this movie and for first time writer and director Aric Avelino, who proves excellent movies can still be made with a purpose and without big budgets.
This is a film that doesn't need to have a Hollywood ending. Is driven by such strong performances and directing that it leaves you motionless in your seat at its conclusion. A rare film that hits harder and harder with each repeat screening. I could go on and on about the performances of Marcia Gay Harden and Forest Whitaker (who by the way gives his best performance to date in this film), but what was even more impressive was the performances by the younger actors on screen. The Son of Marcia Gay Harden and the character "Jay" both blew me away by the quality of their performances.
American Gun is well worth the money. Please don't be closed-minded and see this film as just a knock-off of Crash. Just because a movies is released after another film DOES NOT MEAN that it was made after that film. It's just bad luck for this movie and for first time writer and director Aric Avelino, who proves excellent movies can still be made with a purpose and without big budgets.
Mr. Black's Grade: C
dvdguy20055 October 2005
American Gun Mr. Black's Grade: C Starring Donald Sutherland , Forest Whitaker , Linda Cardellini , Marcia Gay Harden , Nikki Reed and Tony Goldwyn .
American Gun follows four different story arcs featuring seemingly disparate portraits of people who all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society. The film is very earnest in it's portrayal of the gun problem in the US, but overall it is pretty forgettable.
Ever been out in public, walking on the street or riding a subway and see a stranger crying? Naturally you feel some sympathy towards this person, but there is disconnect. Why are they crying? The new boyfriend never returned their phone call? Did they just receive news of a family member dying? Get a B on the Biology test? You have no real way to know. And that's how I felt in this movie, disconnected. Every 10 minutes or so there are these big emotional outbursts, and while you do eventually come to know why, there still is a serious separation.
There is some interesting material here, and Marcia Gay Harden's confrontation with her neighbors is handled very well. That's it baby.
American Gun follows four different story arcs featuring seemingly disparate portraits of people who all affected by the proliferation of guns in American society. The film is very earnest in it's portrayal of the gun problem in the US, but overall it is pretty forgettable.
Ever been out in public, walking on the street or riding a subway and see a stranger crying? Naturally you feel some sympathy towards this person, but there is disconnect. Why are they crying? The new boyfriend never returned their phone call? Did they just receive news of a family member dying? Get a B on the Biology test? You have no real way to know. And that's how I felt in this movie, disconnected. Every 10 minutes or so there are these big emotional outbursts, and while you do eventually come to know why, there still is a serious separation.
There is some interesting material here, and Marcia Gay Harden's confrontation with her neighbors is handled very well. That's it baby.
Very disappointing, considering the speight of movies about guns in America
gleong-15 November 2006
Warning: Spoilers
I have seen at least four other films (including Michael Moore's documentary) about the guns in America, and their easy availability - three of these were about senseless shootings in schools. And now we have another.
Unfortunately, this is the least interesting of the lot. Gus van Sant's "Elephant" tops the board in its classic understatement, and weaves disparate strands together in the end. With this movie, which dissects the aftermath of a school shooting starts off with a tantalising premise - what happens AFTER?
It is almost too horrible to bear, the mother (a marvelous performance by Marcia Gay Harden) of a shooter in a school massacre, the traumatised police officer, the headmaster who is so intent on stopping guns in schools that he neglects (oh cliché cliché!) his own family and so on are all formulaic plot devices at the best. The performances by the main actors are really good, but the poor material they have been given negates all.
There is no sense of interconnectivity between the individual subplots, not really even at the end, when a totally gratuitous bit of violence brings just two of the sub-plot protagonists accidentally together.
The movie builds up to nothing, and so ends with a big SO WHAT?
Unfortunately, this is the least interesting of the lot. Gus van Sant's "Elephant" tops the board in its classic understatement, and weaves disparate strands together in the end. With this movie, which dissects the aftermath of a school shooting starts off with a tantalising premise - what happens AFTER?
It is almost too horrible to bear, the mother (a marvelous performance by Marcia Gay Harden) of a shooter in a school massacre, the traumatised police officer, the headmaster who is so intent on stopping guns in schools that he neglects (oh cliché cliché!) his own family and so on are all formulaic plot devices at the best. The performances by the main actors are really good, but the poor material they have been given negates all.
There is no sense of interconnectivity between the individual subplots, not really even at the end, when a totally gratuitous bit of violence brings just two of the sub-plot protagonists accidentally together.
The movie builds up to nothing, and so ends with a big SO WHAT?
lame
magpieny21 October 2006
Some people on this site were comparing this movie to crash. At best this is a poor made after school movie. The movie never takes off, it drags, it wanders, it bores you to death. The only thing this movie made me want to do is buy a gun to put myself out of my misery. I watched it for free and I feel like I've been cheated. I should have been happy when it finally ended, but I was only left wondering why I had wasted the last hour of my life watching this movie. I noticed that there were about 20 songs in the credits but I must have been so numb with boredom that I can't recall a single line being played. Each song must have been uniquely unremarkable. The cherry on the top of this little masterpiece was Donald Sutherlands character, he easily could have been replaced by a rambling old man with senility taken off your local public transportation line.
Whether you are pro or anti-gun, this movie will make you question what you believe
meggiet23 January 2007
"American Gun" is an amazing, quiet movie that packs so much into an hour and 37 minutes. It's about the lives, ones of desperation and defeat, that different people around the nation live with every day, ones affected by guns.
Marcia Gay Harden plays a single mother whose son participated in a shooting at his high school and was killed. Even though that was years ago, she lives trapped in that time, that single moment that shaped her life and her younger son's life forever. For anyone who heard about the tragedy at Columbine, saw the footage and were outraged, for anyone who thought, "What were the parents doing? Why didn't they stop those children from taking guns into that school?" this movie shows the other side. And will make you think.
Linda Cardellini is a college student who works in her grandfather's (played by Donald Sutherland) gun shop. She's uncomfortable around him, around the shop, but family obligation keep there day after day.
Arlen Escarpeta plays Jay, an African-American high school student who carries a gun to school. But he's also a straight A student and takes care of his mother and younger siblings.
At the heart of this movie is Carter (Forest Whitaker), a principal at Jay's high school, a man who is there to make a difference. He talks to those kids, he tries to make them understand there's more to life than guns and gangs. He's so dedicated that sometimes he neglects his own family to help others.
There are no easy stereotypes in this movie, no pat answers. No one is simply one thing. The main characters are real, sometimes unrelentingly horrible, sometimes kind to each other. Whether you are pro or anti-gun, this movie will make you question what you believe and give you something to think about.
Marcia Gay Harden plays a single mother whose son participated in a shooting at his high school and was killed. Even though that was years ago, she lives trapped in that time, that single moment that shaped her life and her younger son's life forever. For anyone who heard about the tragedy at Columbine, saw the footage and were outraged, for anyone who thought, "What were the parents doing? Why didn't they stop those children from taking guns into that school?" this movie shows the other side. And will make you think.
Linda Cardellini is a college student who works in her grandfather's (played by Donald Sutherland) gun shop. She's uncomfortable around him, around the shop, but family obligation keep there day after day.
Arlen Escarpeta plays Jay, an African-American high school student who carries a gun to school. But he's also a straight A student and takes care of his mother and younger siblings.
At the heart of this movie is Carter (Forest Whitaker), a principal at Jay's high school, a man who is there to make a difference. He talks to those kids, he tries to make them understand there's more to life than guns and gangs. He's so dedicated that sometimes he neglects his own family to help others.
There are no easy stereotypes in this movie, no pat answers. No one is simply one thing. The main characters are real, sometimes unrelentingly horrible, sometimes kind to each other. Whether you are pro or anti-gun, this movie will make you question what you believe and give you something to think about.
American Gun a.k.a Crash
retard_dumbass431 August 2006
For starters, In regards to MICDI and claiming that American Gun was made before Crash is wrong ; Crash had already started filming in late 2003 and finished in early 2004. While American Gun didn't start filming until the summer of 2004. Just to clarify American Gun is a film about the lives and 8 people and how each of them are affected in different ways by guns in America. This movie is almost exactly like Crash with the exception of a little Bowling for Columbine mixed in. I did not enjoy this movie, it focuses too much on one type of class of people. It does not show how other classes of society are affected by guns in America. But I guess thats what you get with a movie that is just a little over and hour and thirty minutes long. Another thing i thought about this movie is it didn't have enough good actors (with the exception of Donald Sutherland and Forest Whitaker). So if you want a movie that shows emotion and depth the whole subject of the movie, I suggest that you rent Crash. And THEN see American Gun, you will notice a big difference.
Another "Oh Dear"
missismiggins4 February 2012
I am beginning to think that any movie that has Forest Whitaker involved with it is going to be just fit for the trash can.
This movie does nothing to dispel that belief.
Who told this guy he can act - he ruins every single movie he is in - he looks like some kind of "Sad Puppy".(As he does in almost every movie he is in) Terrible actor.
His role in this movie as a so called High School principal is outstandingly pathetic.
He spends every single scene moaning about how hard his job as a school principal is, he has no relationship with his kids, he lives like a pig - who on earth thought this drivel up? Donald Sutherland may as well have been played by any 2 bit actor they could have found as his character and contribution to this movie is absolutely zilch.
Wasted opportunity to make what really could have been an interesting movie - Talent like Sutherlands wasted in his role in a gun store polishing guns and fretting about his grand daughter that he barely communicates with - Sorry Another BAD Movie!
This movie does nothing to dispel that belief.
Who told this guy he can act - he ruins every single movie he is in - he looks like some kind of "Sad Puppy".(As he does in almost every movie he is in) Terrible actor.
His role in this movie as a so called High School principal is outstandingly pathetic.
He spends every single scene moaning about how hard his job as a school principal is, he has no relationship with his kids, he lives like a pig - who on earth thought this drivel up? Donald Sutherland may as well have been played by any 2 bit actor they could have found as his character and contribution to this movie is absolutely zilch.
Wasted opportunity to make what really could have been an interesting movie - Talent like Sutherlands wasted in his role in a gun store polishing guns and fretting about his grand daughter that he barely communicates with - Sorry Another BAD Movie!
Great acting but anti-climactic
zackeus831 August 2008
Forest Whitaker, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Marquette, and Tony Goldwyn give outstanding performances, but they could not save the abrupt ending and need for more closure in this film. It helped that Harden, Marquette and Goldwyn were given the strongest storyline in the film. Whitaker's did not fully develop, and its big finish was lackluster and left me wanting more. The storyline between Donald Sutherland and Linda Cardellini was the most disappointing of all. There was no significant change or resolution to make the viewer feel as if the movie was really over. "American Gun" does an adequate job of arguing for stricter gun control, but there are a few major flaws to that argument that present themselves, leaving the viewer confused about what to think. Worth seeing, but don't expect to be WOWed. I'm willing to bet there are better movies out there about how guns affect American society.
one of the few
ctg07249 September 2007
I watched Crash. I thought it was decent. Oscar worthy? Absolutely not. I watched Babel. I thought it was absolutely terrible. If you go to the comments on that movie, you will find what I wrote about it. I watched Magnolia. Another decent type of these, but nothing I would watch over again. All of these movies got quite a bit of notice. Whether they deserved it or not, I don't really know.
But what I do know is that American Gun deserved some serious attention. This movie, which clearly had a lower budget than all of those other movies, was the greatest film of the multiple stories genre.
Maybe it's just because I don't consider "racism bad" a good enough message in a movie for the past two decades (except American History X); I think gun violence, especially in high schools, is one of the most important issues in our country. This movie just managed to get under my skin and rip out emotion from me a lot better than most movies I have seen. This movie should have received the Oscar that Crash won. It was completed before Crash. Forrest Whitaker alone is better than every actor and actress in Crash combined.
Few films pull off the loosely connected people style very well. It annoys me when a movie filled with A-list celebrities gets noticed because of it. American Gun is one of the few that didn't get that notice and deserved it.
But what I do know is that American Gun deserved some serious attention. This movie, which clearly had a lower budget than all of those other movies, was the greatest film of the multiple stories genre.
Maybe it's just because I don't consider "racism bad" a good enough message in a movie for the past two decades (except American History X); I think gun violence, especially in high schools, is one of the most important issues in our country. This movie just managed to get under my skin and rip out emotion from me a lot better than most movies I have seen. This movie should have received the Oscar that Crash won. It was completed before Crash. Forrest Whitaker alone is better than every actor and actress in Crash combined.
Few films pull off the loosely connected people style very well. It annoys me when a movie filled with A-list celebrities gets noticed because of it. American Gun is one of the few that didn't get that notice and deserved it.
Movies have to have unique names!
jdranetz26 January 2009
Not to be confused with a 2002 movie starring James Coburn.
This is an insult to him, and his last piece of work!!! Movies have to have unique names! Is that so difficult. I'm giving a bad rating just for this fact!
Aren't there enough words in our vocabulary?
It really does a disservice to the earlier film of the same title if it is not a remake.
It's confusing for the viewer and may take away potential income from the previous film.
SAG requires all actors to have unique names, why not the same with movie titles? Is it so difficult, Richard Dean Anderson had to stick the "Dean" in because of the existence of Richard Anderson, known by many as Oscar Goldman on Six Million Dollar Man. Let us not forget Bill Macy from "Maude" and "The Jerk", still a cut up in his 80's, , and William H. Macy frequent David Manet collaborator. Jeff Dranetz
This is an insult to him, and his last piece of work!!! Movies have to have unique names! Is that so difficult. I'm giving a bad rating just for this fact!
Aren't there enough words in our vocabulary?
It really does a disservice to the earlier film of the same title if it is not a remake.
It's confusing for the viewer and may take away potential income from the previous film.
SAG requires all actors to have unique names, why not the same with movie titles? Is it so difficult, Richard Dean Anderson had to stick the "Dean" in because of the existence of Richard Anderson, known by many as Oscar Goldman on Six Million Dollar Man. Let us not forget Bill Macy from "Maude" and "The Jerk", still a cut up in his 80's, , and William H. Macy frequent David Manet collaborator. Jeff Dranetz
Good indie movie about real situations
bellino-angelo201429 November 2021
In AMERICAN GUN guns are examined from the perspective of four different stories after one tragic accident similar to the Florida one in 2018.
Janet (Marcia Gay Harden) is the mother of the teenager who shot in his Oregon school and is scorned by her neighbours while also being worried about her brother son that has the same age of the kid when he committed that terrible act. Carter (Forest Whitaker) is the high school principal that struggles everyday for keeping the school safe from guns until he discovers that his son has bought a gun. Mary Ann Wilk (Linda Cardellini) is a West Coast girl that is displaced to a Virginia college and in her free time works in her grandfather (Donald Sutherland)'s gun shop. Frank (Tony Goldwyn) is a cop who is constantly criticized for having arrived late at the shooting and has some sort of burden in his conscience for this.
While watching I found AMERICAN GUN very interesting despite at times the loud music was annoying and the stories looked a bit disjointed. Maybe because it features many great actors and they all give good performances. I loved it? Not exactly, but I admire it for being different and kinda actual despite it was released in 2005. And I think this movie is better than most of the reviews I read... are we always watching the same movie??
Janet (Marcia Gay Harden) is the mother of the teenager who shot in his Oregon school and is scorned by her neighbours while also being worried about her brother son that has the same age of the kid when he committed that terrible act. Carter (Forest Whitaker) is the high school principal that struggles everyday for keeping the school safe from guns until he discovers that his son has bought a gun. Mary Ann Wilk (Linda Cardellini) is a West Coast girl that is displaced to a Virginia college and in her free time works in her grandfather (Donald Sutherland)'s gun shop. Frank (Tony Goldwyn) is a cop who is constantly criticized for having arrived late at the shooting and has some sort of burden in his conscience for this.
While watching I found AMERICAN GUN very interesting despite at times the loud music was annoying and the stories looked a bit disjointed. Maybe because it features many great actors and they all give good performances. I loved it? Not exactly, but I admire it for being different and kinda actual despite it was released in 2005. And I think this movie is better than most of the reviews I read... are we always watching the same movie??
The Necessary Evil
nycritic3 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Three stories unfold in Aric Avelino's touching and sometimes difficult movie American GUN. Two of them appear to be related to each other even though they occur on opposite sides of the country, the link being shootings at a high school not unlike Columbine (and its aftermath), the link between the three the ever-present, dangerous object that we know of as the gun.
Right at the start, snippets of the high school tragedy unfold amidst newsreels, pictures of the students killed in the massacre, and most distressing of all, the image of students fleeing from a study room, caught on a surveillance camera, as later on, the two armed kids enter the picture. Even more anguishing is the fact that even before they make their visible appearance, they can be heard via their deadly approach: the echoing sound of bullets hitting unspeakable targets.
The mother of one of the killers, Janet, carries much of the emotional weight of the story since from the start, fingers point at her as the reason that her eldest son committed these murders, for which she has now lost her job, and can barely make amends. She agrees to a paid interview -- seen filtered in and out of the news montage -- only because it can allow her to pay for her younger son's education. The terrible irony is, he will now have to go to the same high school that his older son went to because she can't afford another one.
Janet doesn't have any answers as to what lead to her son's rampage. Indeed, with many of these senseless acts, there is no true answer many of the times. She clearly is trying to be a good mother in every way, but is turned into a pariah from her own community who believes evil starts at home and she was half responsible and because she didn't display the correct image of sympathy in her interview, she is now tainted. Marcia Gay Harden portrays Janet as a woman literally coming apart, realizing her younger son is getting into drugs and will not talk to her, wondering if he might also become like his dead brother.
The only person she is able to make a connection to is the police officer caught on duty who was unable to do more to save these students from a horrible and meaningless death. Frank (Tony Goldwyn) is carrying an enormous amount of emotional baggage because he was only trying to do his job: things just got totally out of hand. His character eventually meets Janet's, and in an emotional gripping scene, she completely breaks down. Because after all, as she says, "I just want them to know I feel real bad."
Midway across the country, Carl (Forrest Whittaker) is trying to make things better for the underprivileged. A principal for an inner city high school that has seen very violent days, he has become totally devoted to tutoring those in need and imparting order when it seems that gun violence amongst the students will reach a major high. However, he is neglecting his own duties at home, which is putting a huge dent in his marriage and is sowing the seeds of his son's shame when forced to carry a bag, then a girl's knapsack, to school. And to top it all, one of his top students carries a gun to school for reasons of his own that are later confirmed in a harrowing moment when the kid faces real danger at the hand of a crazy man with a loaded gun.
The more subtle of stories presents Mary Anne (Linda Cardellini), a girl living in Virginia, who seems to be at odd with the family tradition of tending to her father's (Donald Sutherland) store because the store sells none other than guns (to which she is opposed to). An incident where a college friend nearly gets date raped spawns a new interest in Mary Anne to learn how to shoot. One could argue that the message being played is that even when you are surrounded by weapons that can kill, they can also aid in self-defense.
American GUN is a visually poetic movie that I thought didn't preach the message in black and white colors. Yes, guns kill -- but humans are the ones who pull the trigger, and we know that. But they also protect, even when anyone would then argue that it would be better to move into a safer area. However, that is not the case for all of us, and people like Jay (Arlen Escarpeta) -- a young man who is the antithesis of a hood and listens to Johnny Cash -- have to resort to measures to ensure they will make it back home in one piece. That in Jay's world, schools are heavily patrolled (which he understands as when in the initial sequence he places his gun in a cubby hole) is part of the system, and the fact he wants to be school principal and is a sensitive young man says pages about the character.
American GUN never shows the massacre directly, which heightens the horror and anticipates that one or more of these main characters will come near a bullet at one point in the story. Ardolino in this way establishes tension that slowly builds until it blows up like the scenes of violence that occur later in the movie. But he also achieves to have some risky moments pay off as when Whittaker explains the mechanism of a gun to a young boy at the start of the film, or when his character's son comes across a dead prostitute's mangled body. Even a scene in which Mary Anne's friend tries on the right "fit" for a gun is odd... but conveys the never-ending cycle of man against man.
Right at the start, snippets of the high school tragedy unfold amidst newsreels, pictures of the students killed in the massacre, and most distressing of all, the image of students fleeing from a study room, caught on a surveillance camera, as later on, the two armed kids enter the picture. Even more anguishing is the fact that even before they make their visible appearance, they can be heard via their deadly approach: the echoing sound of bullets hitting unspeakable targets.
The mother of one of the killers, Janet, carries much of the emotional weight of the story since from the start, fingers point at her as the reason that her eldest son committed these murders, for which she has now lost her job, and can barely make amends. She agrees to a paid interview -- seen filtered in and out of the news montage -- only because it can allow her to pay for her younger son's education. The terrible irony is, he will now have to go to the same high school that his older son went to because she can't afford another one.
Janet doesn't have any answers as to what lead to her son's rampage. Indeed, with many of these senseless acts, there is no true answer many of the times. She clearly is trying to be a good mother in every way, but is turned into a pariah from her own community who believes evil starts at home and she was half responsible and because she didn't display the correct image of sympathy in her interview, she is now tainted. Marcia Gay Harden portrays Janet as a woman literally coming apart, realizing her younger son is getting into drugs and will not talk to her, wondering if he might also become like his dead brother.
The only person she is able to make a connection to is the police officer caught on duty who was unable to do more to save these students from a horrible and meaningless death. Frank (Tony Goldwyn) is carrying an enormous amount of emotional baggage because he was only trying to do his job: things just got totally out of hand. His character eventually meets Janet's, and in an emotional gripping scene, she completely breaks down. Because after all, as she says, "I just want them to know I feel real bad."
Midway across the country, Carl (Forrest Whittaker) is trying to make things better for the underprivileged. A principal for an inner city high school that has seen very violent days, he has become totally devoted to tutoring those in need and imparting order when it seems that gun violence amongst the students will reach a major high. However, he is neglecting his own duties at home, which is putting a huge dent in his marriage and is sowing the seeds of his son's shame when forced to carry a bag, then a girl's knapsack, to school. And to top it all, one of his top students carries a gun to school for reasons of his own that are later confirmed in a harrowing moment when the kid faces real danger at the hand of a crazy man with a loaded gun.
The more subtle of stories presents Mary Anne (Linda Cardellini), a girl living in Virginia, who seems to be at odd with the family tradition of tending to her father's (Donald Sutherland) store because the store sells none other than guns (to which she is opposed to). An incident where a college friend nearly gets date raped spawns a new interest in Mary Anne to learn how to shoot. One could argue that the message being played is that even when you are surrounded by weapons that can kill, they can also aid in self-defense.
American GUN is a visually poetic movie that I thought didn't preach the message in black and white colors. Yes, guns kill -- but humans are the ones who pull the trigger, and we know that. But they also protect, even when anyone would then argue that it would be better to move into a safer area. However, that is not the case for all of us, and people like Jay (Arlen Escarpeta) -- a young man who is the antithesis of a hood and listens to Johnny Cash -- have to resort to measures to ensure they will make it back home in one piece. That in Jay's world, schools are heavily patrolled (which he understands as when in the initial sequence he places his gun in a cubby hole) is part of the system, and the fact he wants to be school principal and is a sensitive young man says pages about the character.
American GUN never shows the massacre directly, which heightens the horror and anticipates that one or more of these main characters will come near a bullet at one point in the story. Ardolino in this way establishes tension that slowly builds until it blows up like the scenes of violence that occur later in the movie. But he also achieves to have some risky moments pay off as when Whittaker explains the mechanism of a gun to a young boy at the start of the film, or when his character's son comes across a dead prostitute's mangled body. Even a scene in which Mary Anne's friend tries on the right "fit" for a gun is odd... but conveys the never-ending cycle of man against man.
school shooting 3
kairingler25 November 2009
let's see we've had bang bang you're dead,, elephant,, and now American Gun.. the best performance i thought in this one was of the Principal,, Forest whitaker,, he did a great job.. Marcia Gay Harden did pretty well to i might add,, Nikki Reed plays yet another girl that teases,, except this time she's not as trashy as usual. Donald Sutherland plays the gun shop owner.. this is a tale of 4 different , or maybe 5 different people's point's of view,, it's a complicated web,, sometimes very hard to follow,, i mean yeah you can put 2 and 2 together in this one,, but in order to do that you gotta figure out the timeline of when the events actually occurred.. quentin Tarantino would be proud of all of the scene jumbling in this one. basically you got a school shooting that has apparently already happened,, a principal trying to stop the violence in school,, a smart kid who feels the need to hide a gun on school property.. a mother who is ostracized for not knowing that her son was capable of wiping out students and teachers. a cop who arrived to late to save anyone,, a gun shop owner, who apparently sold the kid the gun,, or maybe his parents,, it was never really explained in the movie.. you got the brother of the shooter, who falls for this little tease... nikki reed, you got neighbors outraged that the mother and the other boy still live in the neighborhood,, fascinating film,,,
American Gun
rhetth23 April 2006
Overall - 7-10
Overall this movie sustains a definite voice, even if the voice is one of greys, not black or white. It is not just roaming all around for 'artistic' reasons.
Acting - 8-10
The acting is very worth while. Can one compare this acting to such gems as Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York, for example? I believe it's difficult to rate the individual actors & actresses per se, but because this movie depends on all of the individual parts working in tandem, then so must the acting be seen as a synergistic art, instead of one or two outstanding monologues.
Screenplay - 10?
I don't know how exactly to rate the screenplay. I can't say I thought it was perfect (the teen dialogue seemed like what adults thought how teens talked), but then, since the movie escaped so many traditional mainstream clichés, it begs the question: what is perfect? I can honestly say that the movie kept it's promise to me, to present itself unflinchingly, blemishes and all. And for that, perhaps, is the best we can hope for, because no movie is perfect to everyone.
Direction - 10?
In this vein, I am using the same ranking as the screenplay, because it is the director's job to bring the screenplay's vision to fruition, and since the director was also a co-writer, the potential for greatness is there, but so is the potential for screwing it all up. I believe the director was very disciplined in keeping focus on the screenplay's intent (his and his co-writer's intent), and not getting carried away in specifics. The truth is, though, that this movie does not aim for the same things most other Hollywood movies aim for (and this movie was made in the LA area, plus one day in Chicago), therefore ranking it in comparison is a little futile.
I'll be short and sweet. First off, everyone compares this movie to Crash, but to me it was more like Traffic. Crash was a little more 'preachy' towards right and wrong, IMHO, while American Gun seems to emphasize the sympathetic perspectives from pro- (dangerous neighborhoods) and anit- (criminal shootings) gun stances, much like Traffic aimed not to validate the pro and cons (Crash?), but just explain them for what they are.
I think it's amazing how much tension is underlying the general idea of gun control. And this movie is pretty professional in presenting an intimate look into all sides. Some people may say that presenting an issue sans opinion is fruitless (see NPR's Talk of the Nation program called Balance vs. Bias in Journalism from April 17, 2006, esp. minute 18:58-19:30), but I believe that works such as this movie provide a clear-headed approach to very emotional issues. This movie accomplishes this mainly, I believe, by focusing on the emotional undercurrents (most very suttle within the movie), such as economic difficulties, familial tensions, teenage frustrations, all within the context not of some polemic diatribe (read: most Kevin Smith movies, West Wing, (sorry)), but through intense acting. That sums it up, because this movie truly sets itself apart with its professional, committed cast.
As an aside, I will mention that I was able to attend a screening of the movie with a Q&A session with the director, Aric Avelino, and he mentioned how this movie was made roughly for 2 million. For those not in the business, this means no one was really paid. It was all done with back-end hopes instead of an up-front salary. Mr. Sutherland, I know, worked for $0.00 (as did I'm sure most all of the expensive talent). The movie was written 5 years ago, Mr. Avelino said, and it took 2 1/2 years to find the financing. After all was said and done, this movie should not have been made. Movies cannot always be made like this, because no one is making money up front, only from profits (and that is a dirty business, but note how one of the production companies is IFC First Take, a video-on-demand distributor, see Crupi, A. "IFC's to Distribute Indie Films Via First Take", Adweek).
So in closing, this movie is more than just a bunch of actors, a plot, and some entertainment movie. It represents a way of making movies, of doing business, and ultimately a vision for what is possible when the public is afforded a quality product without the vices of big-money. My only question to Mr. Avelino is, how will things change when you have a 100 million dollar budget? Will you go the way of Phillip Noyce and drop a 6 million dollar paycheck to make a movie of conscious (look for Landmark Theatres' story about Phillip Noyce with Rabbit Proof Fence)? Who knows what success will breed. Let us hope that Mr. Avelino, and all of us, have the strength to live as true as the characters in his movie.
Overall this movie sustains a definite voice, even if the voice is one of greys, not black or white. It is not just roaming all around for 'artistic' reasons.
Acting - 8-10
The acting is very worth while. Can one compare this acting to such gems as Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York, for example? I believe it's difficult to rate the individual actors & actresses per se, but because this movie depends on all of the individual parts working in tandem, then so must the acting be seen as a synergistic art, instead of one or two outstanding monologues.
Screenplay - 10?
I don't know how exactly to rate the screenplay. I can't say I thought it was perfect (the teen dialogue seemed like what adults thought how teens talked), but then, since the movie escaped so many traditional mainstream clichés, it begs the question: what is perfect? I can honestly say that the movie kept it's promise to me, to present itself unflinchingly, blemishes and all. And for that, perhaps, is the best we can hope for, because no movie is perfect to everyone.
Direction - 10?
In this vein, I am using the same ranking as the screenplay, because it is the director's job to bring the screenplay's vision to fruition, and since the director was also a co-writer, the potential for greatness is there, but so is the potential for screwing it all up. I believe the director was very disciplined in keeping focus on the screenplay's intent (his and his co-writer's intent), and not getting carried away in specifics. The truth is, though, that this movie does not aim for the same things most other Hollywood movies aim for (and this movie was made in the LA area, plus one day in Chicago), therefore ranking it in comparison is a little futile.
I'll be short and sweet. First off, everyone compares this movie to Crash, but to me it was more like Traffic. Crash was a little more 'preachy' towards right and wrong, IMHO, while American Gun seems to emphasize the sympathetic perspectives from pro- (dangerous neighborhoods) and anit- (criminal shootings) gun stances, much like Traffic aimed not to validate the pro and cons (Crash?), but just explain them for what they are.
I think it's amazing how much tension is underlying the general idea of gun control. And this movie is pretty professional in presenting an intimate look into all sides. Some people may say that presenting an issue sans opinion is fruitless (see NPR's Talk of the Nation program called Balance vs. Bias in Journalism from April 17, 2006, esp. minute 18:58-19:30), but I believe that works such as this movie provide a clear-headed approach to very emotional issues. This movie accomplishes this mainly, I believe, by focusing on the emotional undercurrents (most very suttle within the movie), such as economic difficulties, familial tensions, teenage frustrations, all within the context not of some polemic diatribe (read: most Kevin Smith movies, West Wing, (sorry)), but through intense acting. That sums it up, because this movie truly sets itself apart with its professional, committed cast.
As an aside, I will mention that I was able to attend a screening of the movie with a Q&A session with the director, Aric Avelino, and he mentioned how this movie was made roughly for 2 million. For those not in the business, this means no one was really paid. It was all done with back-end hopes instead of an up-front salary. Mr. Sutherland, I know, worked for $0.00 (as did I'm sure most all of the expensive talent). The movie was written 5 years ago, Mr. Avelino said, and it took 2 1/2 years to find the financing. After all was said and done, this movie should not have been made. Movies cannot always be made like this, because no one is making money up front, only from profits (and that is a dirty business, but note how one of the production companies is IFC First Take, a video-on-demand distributor, see Crupi, A. "IFC's to Distribute Indie Films Via First Take", Adweek).
So in closing, this movie is more than just a bunch of actors, a plot, and some entertainment movie. It represents a way of making movies, of doing business, and ultimately a vision for what is possible when the public is afforded a quality product without the vices of big-money. My only question to Mr. Avelino is, how will things change when you have a 100 million dollar budget? Will you go the way of Phillip Noyce and drop a 6 million dollar paycheck to make a movie of conscious (look for Landmark Theatres' story about Phillip Noyce with Rabbit Proof Fence)? Who knows what success will breed. Let us hope that Mr. Avelino, and all of us, have the strength to live as true as the characters in his movie.
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