White Rabbit (2013)

I thought we were going to have a rip off of Donnie Darko when I saw the title of the movie but apart of the main character having visions and hallucinations it's not comparable. In White Rabbit the main character Harlon Mackey played by Nick Krause is getting bullied at school, has not a lot of friends, and even at home things are not particularly good. After a day hunting with his father he is traumatized when he had to shoot a defenseless white rabbit. From that point he's starting hallucinating, hearing voices speaking to him from his favorite comic book. I thought Nick Krause did a good job with his character. And the other actors were all good as well. The story is entertaining and is an example of a lot of things that go wrong in the education of kids in the United States. Teaching your kids to shoot guns at their young age, buying them guns as a present, prayer groups before going to school etc, all things that will mess up a kid if he's borderline disturbed. Kids that are getting bullied, that are outcasts in their school, it's not a good idea to give them guns as a present. And that's why in America you get shootings at schools etc... Things that you almost never see in Europe. I did enjoy the movie, especially the acting of Nick Krause.

A strong story that touches some very delicate and striking points: the fragility of children and how something, like the bullying, can trigger a terrible action when it is combined with a mental impairment in progress.While it is true that the bullying is not the cause of the final action in the film, this is largely a catalyst and, in the end, what turns out to be the trigger is a heartbreak. But bullying and a broken heart is not enough to turn you into a killer, there is something deeper in the mind. A childhood with huge emotional conflicts; as underestimation, frustration, anger and helplessness and loneliness, can lead a fragile person, and with a broken psyche, to a total detachment to others with a fatal outcome.In the end, the vulnerability of the girl (the character portrayed by Britt Robertson) and the memory of having acted unfairly and without any real motivation in its infancy, make him reassess their actions and, fortunately for her, gives to policemen enough time to act and finish the attack. That is why, we can see the final scene where he, as a child, is seen releasing the rabbit instead of kill it. It is an allegory about redemption you get when you forgive someone innocent (the "White Rabbit" is the helpless girl). And the rabbit in his mind, is the representation of his own guilt, and the inner voice who, at the end, says him that it's time to leave, the indication that he is dying and this is the end... without being able to fix the things that he has made.

i have a 14 year old kid who is a high school freshman this year. this movie has an insight into that world that is raw and scary. every parent's fear. mental illness, bullying, violence… the minefield a young boy has to dodge all alone inside his head just to get through to the other side. remarkable, good stuff. highly recommend it. i have a 14 year old kid who is a high school freshman this year. this movie has an insight into that world that is raw and scary. every parent's fear. mental illness, bullying, violence… the minefield a young boy has to dodge all alone inside his head just to get through to the other side. remarkable, good stuff. highly recommend it.

There are some issues in this country that continually get brushed over in the hopes they will never grow as a problem. School shootings are one of these issues. They are disturbingly unique to this country and have increased in frequency. This movie does the best job yet of tackling a very difficult subject that shouldn't be dismissed. The film is artfully directed by Tim McCann. It has a documentary like power that brings to mind ' Z' directed by Costa-Gavras, but is much harder to watch than that piece shot in the 60s. White Rabbit is contemporary, unvarnished, and brutal. This film reminds you that mental illness has many faces and continues to be misunderstood and evaded as a root cause of these shootings. I've looked over McCann's filmography and he has a legacy of socially relevant films tackling the most difficult subjects. Very courageous and inspiring in an era where we cannot rely on the media to properly weight the right issues.