The movie, The Fallout, deals with the grief and trauma that follows harrowing events such as school shootings. It is a unique movie as there aren’t many shows or movies that revolve around what happens after a school shooting. It is a well-made movie and worth the build-up.
“What this debut feature from Megan Park gets right is how painfully awkward and strange the effects of trauma can often be, especially when experienced by a group of adolescents,” writes New York Times contributor, Claire Shaffer.
“The Fallout isn’t a coming-of-age movie or a school shooting movie, it’s both. I think coming of age for Gen Z and the threat of gun violence go hand in hand,” Director Megan Park says.
Most of the movie was spent showing the different ways the students coped with grief. The actual shooting was not featured, as the incident only took up about five minutes. Even in this short period of time, the movie demonstrates how it completely shifted the student’s mindsets. Park’s filming style added the unique spin it needed, especially when the movie focused on quiet scenes.
In the beginning of the movie, Park chose to show the school shooting through the main character, Vada (Jenna Ortega) hiding in the bathroom. It was full of emotions without needing to flash the macabre details. This scene also sets up the complex relationships Vada would form because of the shooting. If Vada, Mia Reed (Maddie Ziegler), and Quinton (Niles Fitch) did not meet in the bathroom, they never would have had formed these friendships. Then, later on in the movie, it shows how distant her current relationships become with her parents, sister, and best friend Nick (Will Ropp).
The character’s responses illustrate the different coping mechanisms each character developed. Vada avoids her feelings, while Nick uses his grief and anger to fuel his activism. Quinton focuses on moving forward, and Mia lives in fear and refuses to return to school.
What is interesting about the reviews of the movie is that the critics appreciate it more than the audience. One specific audience review talks about how it also should have shown healthier ways to cope. The critique is understandable since it would have fit into the story, but healthy coping strategies aren’t always the most realistic thing from an audience perspective. The movie was only over the course of a few days, so to show the characters going back to normal life so soon may have taken the audience out of their suspension of disbelief.
The ending was well done and showed how sometimes people have a great deal of difficulty moving past horrific events. Instead of showing Vada going back to her normal life and forgetting about the incident, it shows how it continues to affect her. While it is over a somewhat short time period, the ending still would fit if it was set a few years later. Director Park does not give the stereotypical ‘happily-ever-after’ ending and instead shows how traumatic events stick with people and do not go away so easily.
The Fallout was a good movie and highly recommended by both critics and the audience.
