DVDS 'Elephant' leads the herd of new offerings

The Gus Van Sant film follows students on the day of a school shooting.
By MARK RAHNER
SEATTLE TIMES
I'm still waiting to hear back about my submission for one of NBC's enlightening "The More You know" public-service blurbs. Maybe it's that I'm not enough of a celebrity.
"School. Where else will you get your individuality crushed, your will broken and nonstop torment for being even a little different? Don't drop out!" Then I wink, smile and fire a finger at the camera. Cue the four-note theme and logo: "The More You Knowwww ..."
While I'm waiting, I'll watch "Elephant" (HBO, R) again. Director-writer Gus Van Sant's masterpiece about a Columbine-like shooting is one of the most honest depictions of high school I've ever seen, made even more unsettling by its cold, dreamlike elegance.
It offers glimpses of a massacre day through the eyes of several students (mostly nonactors): a boy with a drunken father, a nerd girl too shy to wear shorts in P.E., a bitchy bulimic trio of gals, a handsome jock and his girlfriend, and the pair of maladjusted outcasts who've meticulously planned their Gotterdammerung.
"Elephant" cleaned up at Cannes with the Golden Palm and Best Director, but scarcely registered with U.S. viewers. Why? Maybe for the same reason I admire Van Sant: He defies expectations, gives no pat wrap-ups, no explicit explanations. After you see it, ask yourself what could have been added without turning it into an 80-minute "The More You Know" segment. Equally enigmatic, the DVD comes with only a 12-minute behind-the-scenes bit.
Trailing behind
"Elephant" makes "Chasing Liberty" (Warner, PG-13) seem even more like stale junk. Longing for freedom (and some action), President Mark Harmon's teen daughter Mandy Moore runs off with a guy she meets outside a European nightclub. He's really an agent protecting her, so he won't do it, but they ... Oh please make the pain and the montages stop.
Only fantasy kids don't want to escape childhood: "Peter Pan" (Columbia Tristar, PG), the $100 million remake of the classic, sunk like someone power-washed the fairy dust off of it. But it's terrific, and easily the definitive version.
Jason Isaacs heads an impressive cast as both Captain Hook and young Wendy's dad. The aerial sword fights are a special hoot. The DVD has an alternate ending with grown-up Wendy letting her own daughter go off with Peter; duchess Sarah Ferguson hosts a doc, and her outtakes are funny.