Please do not misunderstand me. The tragedies that befell Columbine High, Santana High, and Millard South--which is a local school in my area--are some of the most terrifying histories in my lifetime. The young people that suffer trauma from these events stretch beyond their schools and communities. These school shootings marked the end of an innocence where adolescence was once associated with discover, exploration, and the joy of it all.
A retelling of the events of a school shooting has a challenge to tell the story with purpose. What hurts this film the most is that we are told the ending in the first few minutes. I won't give away what happened (not that you need my help), but we already know what is going to happen. This film mopped itself into a corner because there were no surprises. The viewer would need a darn good reason to keep watching through such a depressing story. I can only assume this film follows the Tarantino-inspired trend, to tell the story out of sequence. That worked for "Pulp Fiction" because there was more than one plot, and each story were distinct. In "April Showers" the characters were all going in the same direction, so it made little sense to tell the story out of sequence.
The actors are relatively unknown, but work hard and play their roles well. Tom Arnold and Ileana Douglas, as superb thespians as they are, did not need to carry these kids. They acted as well as they could under the circumstances.
What's unfortunate is that the film was so focused on the tragedy, it failed to connect us to the characters. By the end of the film, I still didn't learn anything about most of the principal cast. A story's tragedy is only effective when people we know and love suffer. Even the namesake of the film, April, was a wooden character that showed no charisma nor personality to warrant our affection--she was just the pretty blond girl, and that's why we're supposed to care(?) The screenplay did little, if at all, to make me care about the characters.
The single-most effective subplot involves Jason, a socially inept misfit, whom had become traumatized by the shooting. Throughout the film we witness his trauma worsen to levels of insanity. Portrayed by Daryl Sabara, we constantly wonder what the deal is with Jason up until he bears his soul in the climax--the pivotal, heartbreaking moment of the film. His development was paced well and left us wondering what would happen next. Everything Jason reacts to is for a reason, and a very shocking reason at that.
Without giving us time to understand the characters, we were pushed right into the incident. By then it was too late for us to sympathize with the flashbacks. We watched the horror of their lives in danger, and we barely had a chance to know their names. As we continue watching the second act of the film, we are watching the community agonize over the incident. With most dramatic stories, we are hoping for a payoff. Not all payoffs have to be happily ever after, but each character's ending were almost predictable, and we watch the characters suffer with absolutely no hope in sight.
The biggest complaint I have is the editing. Most scenes with music are mixed so high, you cannot hear the dialogue. With a story so somber, the characters are required to speak softly. It's hard to make out the conversation. Sometimes I wonder if music was even necessary for some scenes. A well performed story needs no gimmicks to polish it, and rather than letting it's talent shine, the score distracts from the story.
By the end of "April Showers", you are still asking the same questions. Why on Earth would someone do this? What became of these kids? What can we do to prevent this? How did it happen in the first place? It doesn't answer any single one of those questions. Perhaps there are no answers. We are left to hope and pray that there are no more tragedies like this, ever again.
I am only able to give this 4 stars out of sympathy. This is a subject that remains sore with the creators; they wanted us to know the grief they endured. But without any payoff or closure to the story, we are only given this story to relive the pain. That would be fine for a documentary. Unfortunately for the viewer, we have to consider the entertainment value of a film. Works of fiction need some sort of answer as to why we sympathize with the characters unless it is a horror film. This is not a horror film, and it is not a documentary, so it is hard to understand why we watched. If you choose to watch "April Showers", know that you will be brought to a sad, depressing place where you will experience the fear, the chaos, the heartbreak, and the trauma of these students. The one thing it will not provide is a sense of relief.
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