I'd been meaning to blog my reaction to this film but never got around to it. Now I have been prompted to do so by Paul's response to the film. Paul highlights the undeniable - this was a well-produced film which brings to the big screen some of the real fears, concerns, hopes and dreams of Australian (and probably other) high schoolers.
The big question of course was as to whether the incredibly graphic suicide scene at the end of the film was exploitative, unhealthy or inappropriate. I guess for me, despite the power of much of the film, I have some real reservations, and I think I can point to two reasons for those concerns.
*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****
The first concerns the 'payoff' for watching a young girl slowly bleed to death on the toilet floor. It seems, given the identity of the victim, that the only conclusion we can draw from the final outcome is that sometimes you never know who or why; that it may well be that the person you least expect is the most psychologically desperate. Now perhaps it's because I have had some exposure to the issue of suicide, but for me, that's old news. For me it wasn't 'worth' the psychological trauma of the film to have that fact reiterated for me.
A second reason for my disquiet concerns the portrayal of the other characters in the show. As Paul has pointed out, these characters are drawn with a realism and insight which is truly evocative. And as we discover, each one of them has some 'reason' which implies that they could be the one to suicide. Their lives, distresses, innermost turmoils are laid bare for our examination. However in the end my own feeling was that these struggles become mere fodder for the 'whoddunit' plotline. In a real sense, the pain of the other characters was 'used' in order to set us up for the twist at the end, and I felt myself resenting that on behalf of the other characters.
Would I recommend the film? I'm not sure. I know that I am glad to have seen it. But I still wonder...