We need to talk about killing

Michael Moore: “If you were to talk directly to the kids at Columbine what would you say to them if they were here right now?”

Marilyn Manson: “I wouldn’t say a single word to them. I would listen to what they have to say and that’s what no one did.”

There is little more shocking than a teenager making the cold-blooded decision to kill his classmates. News images of the Columbine Massacre and other such tragedies are permanently imprinted on our brains. But who is responsible? Is it the child, their parents or society at large? We Need to Talk About Kevin, based on the book of the same name by Lionel Shriver, is a sombre reminder that when it comes to the nature of evil, nothing is black and white.

In the film we join Eva (played by the excellent Tilda Swinton) as she tries to remake her life after her son Kevin goes on a horrific rampage at his high school not long prior to his sixteenth birthday. We witness tangible representations of a community grieving and looking for someone to blame; one of the opening scenes sees Eva scrubbing blood-red paint from the front of her doorway before being viciously assaulted in the street by the mother of one of her son’s victims. It is clear that society judges Eva as harshly as she judges herself and considers her ultimately responsible for Kevin’s actions. But is this the case?

Like the novel, the film dramatically explores the nature verses nurture debate, but leaves us with more questions than answers. Through regular flashbacks we see Eva struggling to come to terms with motherhood after a high-powered career as a travel journalist and finding it difficult to cope with a child who displays a distinct lack of empathy.

From a very young age Kevin revels in upsetting his mother and seemingly feels no remorse for it. Pitched against his mother in a power struggle, Kevin develops strategies in order to resist her will: refusing to speak or to potty-train. The latter rebellion triggers a violent episode, which Kevin later refers to as the most honest thing his mother ever did. For a while Eva gains the upper-hand in their dysfunctional power relation, but this makes her complicit in a lie and ultimately subject to her son’s will. Whenever Kevin wants something all he need do is delicately caress the scar his mother inflicted on him and she will dance to his tune.

Kevin is a psychopath: combining an abnormal lack of empathy with amoral conduct which he is able to mask when necessary in order to appear normal. He may be bereft of feelings but he is certainly able to capitalise on other people’s emotions. Manipulating his parents, he shows his naïve father, Franklin, (played by John C. Reilly) his ‘good’ side, while reserving his true self for his mother.

Films like We Need to Talk About Kevin are immensely important in that they make us reflect not just on those who commit atrocities like the one committed by Kevin, but also the part that wider society plays in making these tragedies possible. Kevin says in the film his motivation for committing the massacre was that he was giving the public the excitement and scandal they crave: "You wake up you watch TV. You get in the car and listen to the radio. You go to your little job or your little school but you’re not going to hear about that on the six o’clock news…Things have got so bad that half the people on TV they’re watching TV. What are all these people watching? People like me." Michael Moore explores this idea further in Bowling for Columbine where he examines what the Columbine Massacre shows us about contemporary America. He draws attention to the fact that the day Columbine happened the U.S. dropped more bombs on Kosovo than at any time during the war, and questions how a society can condemn violence in their own community, but freely endorse it when it is perpetrated against a small foreign nation.

In his discussion with Moore, Marilyn Manson, who was blamed by the Christian right for inspiring the Columbine killers through his lyrics, makes an astute observation regarding the campaign of fear and consumption that has become ingrained into the fabric of American society. He argues that fear is perpetuated by news organisations, who show a disproportionate number of violent stories in order to prompt people to consume. This creates a culture in which violence is the norm and - as monstrous events such as Columbine and Virginia Tech illustrate - violence only begets more violence.