The Movie
If you videotaped your life, every day, for a year, most of the footage you'd end up with would be pretty boring and, for the most part, meaningless in an overall context. Most people don't plot and plan, and the daily events generally stand on their own. Then again, most people don't go into their high school, shoot several of their classmates and then commit suicide. Most people. But not Andre and Cal, the main characters of Zero Day, a couple of average kids who look tremendously similar to the two Colorado teenagers who made "Columbine" a household word.

Andre and Cal (who share their first names with the actors who portray them, blurring the line between reality and art) are a couple of goofy teens who document everything they do. The majority of the footage is keeping track of some dark planning on their part and a love of guns, but not everything is part of the plan. It's the bits that stray from their manifesto that help make the rest of the film work, like a graveyard meeting between Cal and a female friend and a prom-night limo ride. These normal moments, placed alongside a shotgun assembly practice, point out the idea that people are complex and one aspect of their lives does not define them.

The camera is such an important part of this story, as it acts as a character, a motivator and a plot device. For most of the movie, the camera shows how these characters see themselves; as characters on a screen. There's a sense that these kids are acting for their own camera, as though they can deny their own knowledge of themselves. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy, as each tape helps them grow in confidence, and become the characters they think they are. At a key point though, the camera know longer belongs to them, and shows them in a different way. The change is so jarring and appropriate that it makes the impact of their actions that much more powerful. Had this choice not been made by the director, this film wouldn't have been nearly as impressive and affecting.

Impressively, the actors, who are not veterans of the game, were able to add to their roles as written, infusing two characters who should receive no pity or sympathy from the audience with a sense of what could be described as sadness, if not for their overwhelming lack of morals. As they attempt to explain what is happening to the camera, their single-minded nature and drive to complete their plans is horrifying, but at the same time, is so real, that it could be happening in the house next door.

The DVD
On one DVD, Zero Day arrives in stores, packaged in a standard keepcase, with a four page insert. The insert features a well-written essay on the film and a listing of chapter stops. The animated full-frame main menu is very well-designed, with a video theme, and provides options to watch the film, select scenes and view special features. There are no subtitles or closed captioning, while the scene selection menus have still previews and dates (instead of titles) for each scene.

The Quality
Shot on consumer-grade video, the look of the film is an attempt to convey realism, with all it's grain, pixilation, shadow, wash-outs and bad camera angles. This DVD captures the look perfectly. There's nothing pretty about this full-frame transfer, which is exactly the way it should be. The audio, presented in Dolby 2.0, is done in the same manner, so don't expect an active mix. If you've ever watched someone's home movies, that's the level of quality you should expect here, only this time it's on purpose.

The Extras
A nice assortment of extras are packed on this DVD, starting with a feature-length audio commentary by writer/director Ben Cuccio, and his two main actors, Andre and Cal. To be truthful, it's mainly just Ben and Andre (Cal appears to show up late), but they have plenty to say about the movie. Cuccio initiates most of the discussion, but Andre throws in his two cents on most parts of the film, sharing his memories and thoughts about the story. The track is lively, as the two have a friendly rapport.

Several featurettes full of behind-the-scenes footage make up the bulk of the remaining extras. "The 'Making Of' Zero Day" is a well-edited montage of footage from the shoot, put together to illustrate some of the themes that cropped up behind the camera. Things seemed very loose on the set, and this shows how the film came to be.

Screen tests of the two leads show just why they were selected, as they are just average kids with the ability to touch a darker part inside. Also the home movie scenes that were a part of the titles are included in their full length. The two items aren't all that important on their own, but that they are real looks at the stars pulls the fictional film that much closer to reality.

A pair of galleries, one of crudely-drawn storyboards and one of photos from the film festivals the movie played in, wrap things up, alongside the full-frame theatrical trailer that sells the film quite well.

The Bottom Line
After Columbine, I wondered who, if anyone, would try to make a movie that takes a look at school shootings that differs from the usual movie-of-the-week, you-are-there melodrama. While Gus Van Sant's Elephant was good, the killers were part of a story, not the story. Zero Day gets to a the source of the story, and because of that, it's a more powerful and thought-provoking film. Sure, no one can truly claim to know what happened inside of the heads of kids who shoot their classmates, but this cinema verite gem certainly feels like it has discovered the truth. The DVD's special features present plenty of background material about the film, and don't attempt to connect it to reality by including any Columbine info. Walking a fine line between imitating life and being art, Zero Day is a fascinating film that should be viewed by anyone who's spent time thinking about why there are school shootings.

Follow him on Twitter

*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.