An unfortunate reality exists in the United States: the occurrence of school shootings within American schools is going up. There were forty-two cases of gun violence in 2021 alone which was the highest number since 1999. This figure is more than double the previous record set at thirty shots in one year and it is estimated that about 34,000 students, from kindergarten to high school, experienced gun violence. Many survivors have used their grief as a force for change, but they are still trying to recover.
The Fallout attempts to contextualize this trauma and violence imposed by survivors into something beautiful, raw and emotional out of a horrific tragedy. The movie premiered in South by Southwest in 2021, where it became popular among critics. It won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Choice Award in the Narrative Film Competition as well as Brightcove Illumination Award during its time there. The wide release was postponed till HBO Max debuted it on screen on January 2022. Its chilling score was produced by Finneas O’Connell who is Billie Eilish’s brother.
Jenna Ortega who has featured on other shows such as Jane the Virgin, Netflix’s You and can also be seen in Scream (the latest edition), plays Vada Cavell who is protagonist of this film. At least initially she seemed like an ordinary high schooler albeit a bit tomboyish compared to Maddie Ziegler’s character; Mia Reed. When they first meet Mia wears those trendy camisole crop tops with makeup while Vada is seen wearing oversized baggy clothes with sneakers around her feet somewhere inside school bathroom corridors. In doing so these two girls become diametrically opposed characters passing through each other only once restroom of a high school without ever talking again; Vada being tomboy while Mia wearing her make-up at washroom and having thousands of followers adoring her dance videos on Instagram or TikTok.
However, because of the shooting, Vada and Mia end up being stuck with each other. What starts as a polite bathroom conversation turns into a nightmare where they hear screams and gunshots and hide on top of a toilet together. Two girls who would never have been friends before will now stand at the kitchen aisle discussing the nightmares and insomnia they are experiencing each night. This could have been an entirely different story if one of them was by herself in that restroom. But when two experience something together, it automatically gives them somebody who knows what they went through.
These young women personify the generation that has come of age confronted with fear and knowledge regarding school shootings. They text each other via Instagram while uploading videos about their hobbies and interests; sit on their bed watching YouTube videos by Vogue; its soundtrack is filled with modern hip-hop and other songs filled with sadness that appear whenever necessary. They go to Starbucks dressed in clothes that scream “2020”. It is a subtle reminder about their age as well as how youthful they are. At our age, death seems like something reserved for grown-ups alone but when children die it doesn’t look real at all.
The film however, does not dwell on the act of violence and instead focuses on how it affects Vada, Mia, the students and their parents. It also does not spend time on the act itself. Hence they concentrate more towards the outcome that follows such an activity. Many people are usually concerned with what happened, how much pain was inflicted or caused and who did it. Yet his name will not be mentioned in this movie. What is next?
The only sign that something has gone wrong is when a schoolmate enters another bathroom stall with blood stained shirt on him. It’s not his blood – he says his brother has been seen shot which means his sibling is dead’. Their memories cannot be washed out by laundering a shirt; they do not end at washing a stained t-shirt. “Do you want Starbucks?” Vada’s younger sister asks her as she shoots questions about shooting incident in their school without expecting any responses from her elder sister. Her folks don’t know how to deal with this whereas two fathers of Mia do not even come back home to their daughter during this period of grief.
Ortega and Ziegler lead roles flow like water; if anything they were expected to play these roles since forever. When they first meet up and exchange numbers before finally becoming friends, there is always that initial awkwardness that one experiences when trying to make friends at first sight with someone new. However, after meeting for sometimes and discussing life issues with each other sincerely a real thing surfaces which brings about closeness making them think lonliness or stand alone because if things could ever go back to normal.
Vada was actually Ortega’s breakout role in The Fallout and it couldn’t be more accurate than that statement itself. She gives Vada an air of mystery where she doesn’t tell us what she feels outrightly through her characterization within the movie script.’ Even when she insists on being okay putting up good face for others’ consolation, she still gets the sympathy of the audience. But that’s not fine with her beyond all these casual words. However, after the incident there are some light moments that remind us of ordinary teenage lives but they come across as dark for Vada when she is quaking in the bathtub and lying awake at night.
This avoidance leads to a series of horrible choices by Vada that do not correlate with who she really is. In two short scenes, Shailene Woodley appears as Vada’s therapist urging her to accept her feelings and situation.
The movie has a run time of ninety-two minutes and though the opening features the most intense scene, it still contains a lot of commentary and story in that period. Each of the characters was altered by the shooting forever in different ways: Vada’s friend Nick (Will Ropp), is not bubbly as he used to be but now walks for change. His classmate who lost his brother during the shooting has another way of dealing with what happened, his reaction at least seems calm or that is what he wants people to think Vada resorts to drugs and alcohol, pushing her further away from others. Mia’s struggle revolves around her loneliness combined with what happened at school. However much other characters go back to school, Mia cannot do that.
Social media is so seamlessly integrated into this narrative where texting and social media apps begin off Mia’s and Vada’s relationship while Vada can often see her mobile phone being operated by other means beyond as texts visually appear on screen. Even when Vada is present (within her own home) Mia always seems alone through showing all these social media followers at times in which she fills up an entire room. The only thing required is technology even if it does not seem like they realize it. Be it a phone, TV or headphones to block out some monotony of an average day world being an escape since it reminds them how much more lonely they can become. Younger sister Amelia constantly follows fashion trends, slangs and social media making her irritating thorn for Vada whereas changing herself makes impossible for them to bond anymore; this causes a greater rift between Vada’s family and her.
Though Fallout may mark Megan Park’s directorial debut, this picture resonates with far more emotional maturity and truth than those made by experienced directors can pretend to have When a school shooting occurs it affects anyone linked to the school who could include parents students or even entire communities Grief has no single mode of approach and it cannot be limited to one way of coping when there is no empathy, relationships come and go. Trying to move on can be difficult, but it is a journey for life rather than one month. Days pass by which turn into months and even years.
Maybe The Fallout is a movie that speaks to and celebrates the experiences and fears of Generation Z although many are not the victims of gun violence themselves. But what happens here is what could happen anywhere, the pervasive fear of what can happen in our society They have lived through something unimaginable. What follows that does though is guilt at surviving this tragedy, learning how to continue like everything is okay. Park takes us beyond the shooting providing life as well as recovery from struggles.
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