Home Room (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Home Room


imdb_id = 0264689
writer = Paul F. Ryan
starring = Erika Christensen
Busy Philipps
Victor Garber
Agnes Bruckner
director = Paul F. Ryan
producer = Ben Ormand
distributor = DEJ Productions
released = 12 April 2002
runtime = 133 min.
language = English
music = Mike Shapiro
awards =
budget =

"Home Room" is an independent film starring Erika Christensen, Busy Philipps and Victor Garber. It premiered in the Taos Talking Picture Festival on 12 April 2002, and made its limited theatrical release on 5 September 2003.

Taglines

*"A lesson in evil."
*"A senseless tragedy. An unlikely friendship. A search for answers."

Plot

A school massacre leaves nine students dead and one student named Deanna Cartwright (played by Christensen) seriously injured. The shooter himself is dead, shot by police during the confrontation after the actual shooting, and the only witness (and possible suspect) is Alicia Browning (played by Philipps), a Goth student who is now under the attention of the detective in charge of the case, Det. Martin Van Zandt (played by Garber).

The school principal asks Alicia to visit Deanna in the hospital. Right away, their differences are evident. Alicia is an outsider from a single-parent family who shuns the society that similarly shuns her, while Deanna is from a wealthy family, gets good grades and is popular with her classmates.

At first, Deanna seems upbeat and cheerful but soon it becomes apparent that beneath this exterior lies psychological scars left behind by the incident. Alicia starts to empathize with her, as she herself is battling her own demons as well, including a previous suicide attempt. Through these similar emotional bonds, the two form an unlikely friendship as they both try to cope with their separate psychological problems.

"Home Room" and Columbine

Even though he started writing the script before the event, director Paul F. Ryan later based the film on the Columbine High School massacre; the film was released only three years after the incident. Ryan and Christensen visited Columbine High School before the film's release to speak to students, faculty and parents, who received a private screening of the film. The response was generally positive and Ryan has since returned as a guest of the school twice. [http://www.moviemaker.com/hop/vol3/06/screenwriting.html]

While a large part of the public wishes to figure out why such massacres happen, some have lauded "Home Room" simply for not explaining why they happen; the film does not place blame on violent video games or movies, and concludes that finding a single reason for these events is impossible.

In addition, the film focuses on what happens to the community long after the news crews have left. In an interview, Ryan explains, "What changed my mind was watching what happened in Littleton afterwards. CNN reported the story for about two weeks, then left. The rest of America moved on, but the people in Littleton didn’t. How do you start living your life again after such a terrible thing? [http://www.moviemaker.com/hop/vol3/06/screenwriting.html] "

See also

*Columbine High School massacre
*School massacre

External links

* [http://www.homeroomthemovie.com Official movie site]
* [http://www.myriadpictures.com/Library.aspx?projectid=5975e1aa-d3a2-4d0a-a05b-387a3fb3c632 Official production company site for the film]
*imdb title|id=0264689|title=Home Room