Finding Lulu Synopsis: "After learning about the culture of school shootings in America, Lulu's Kenyan community bands together to prepare her for life in U.S. schools."
Director (Gayatri Kumar) Statement: "I'm a proud American. I believe my country is considered to be number one for a reason. But this American passport quickly begins to lose value if our children's safety doesn't rank number one too."
In a Psychology Today article, Michael Friedman, Ph.D writes that Dee Snider's "greatest contribution is that he has publicly and directly challenged the stereotypes that heavy metal musicians and fans faced since the inception of the art form - with heavy metal musicians and fans stereotyped as unintelligent and dangerous."
How dangerous? So dangerous that Marilyn Manson was accused of causing the Columbine massacre.
In "Columbine: Whose Fault is it?" Marilyn Manson speaks out:
"When it comes down to who's to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you'll hit someone who's guilty. We're the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we're the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them."
Marilyn Manson wrote the article in 1999, the year that the Matrix was released, when Yahoo was still king of the Internet, before MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
Marilyn Manson goes on to point out that:
"We applaud the creation of a bomb whose sole purpose is to destroy all of mankind and we grow up watching our president's brains splattered all over Texas. Times have not become violent. They have just become more televised. Does anyone think the Civil War was the least bit civil? If television had existed, you would be sure they would have been there to cover it, or maybe even participate in it, like their violent car chase of Princess Di. Disgusting vultures looking for corpses..."
In February 2018, four years before the start of the war in Ukraine, Matt Taibbi wrote an article titled "If we want kids to stop killing, the adults have to stop, too." He begins by writing that: "Over two decades ago, I traveled to a city in the Russian provinces called Rostov-On-Don to interview a psychiatrist named Alexander Bukhanovsky." The caption of the featured photo reads: "Mourners stand during a candlelight vigil for the victims of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting n Parkland, Florida on February 15, 2018."
Taibbi goes on to list the variety of things that are blamed for gun violence: racism, violent video games, music lyrics and movies.
Fun fact: The end credits song in Finding Lulu is "Bang Bang (My Schoolmate Shot Me Down)", which is based off Nancy Sinatra's rendition of "Bang, Bang". Quentin Tarantino used Nancy Sinatra's version in the Kill Bill opening scene and said: "I think you'll have a hard time hearing that song after seeing the movie and not thinking about the bride lying in the church."
Taibbi asks: "But what about the fact that we're an institutionally violent society whose entire economy has historically been dependent upon the production of weapons?" He also asks: "And how about the fact that we wantonly (and probably illegally) murder civilians in numerous countries as a matter of routine?"
This is a good time as any to mention the Melilla Massacre. Some would criticize legal immigrants - like Lulu and her family - and illegal immigrants, like the many who have perished as they pursued greener pastures. Those who belong to the critics camp share this sentiment:
In "Immigration is horror" the writer offers a different perspective:
"Thus there are two kinds of immigrants. The ones who leave by choice and the others who do out of necessity. But, often, their reasons and motivations come from the same place: the conditions they live in are no longer sustainable either physically, mentally, or emotionally."
Taibbi remembers Dennis Kucinich "being laughed at by reporters...whenever he talked about...the establishment of a "Department of Peace"... He just happened to believe we should make nonviolent conflict resolution an 'organizing principle in our society.'"
Like all good films do, "Finding Lulu" offers the space to ask more questions and to think about this complex issue from a variety of perspectives. Below is Love Kasim's review of the film:
"Lulu, a primary school pupil, is relocating to California and is nudged by her fellow classmates on why she needs to go to a place where kids get killed every day.
Gun control and firearm use in America is still very much a hot topic. Firearm deaths occur at a rate more than five times higher than drowning.
Lulu embarks on learning about the steps to take if ever in such a situation, calling the police being one of them. The video shows the Police response time and how long it took for the them to take action in Uvalde and it's just dismal to say the least.
She resorts to training with the brave Maasai warriors and masters her inner strength to go through the process.
Some of the drills suggested to help during a school shooting are refuted by the classmates and I think those should be updated realistically.
Despite economic factors, gender, racial, mental health conditions or sexual orientation, everyone has a right to be safe in their classroom and communities and this is what the film is all about .
We should teach children and youth how to minimize social isolation, empathise with others and create a more inclusive and connected school culture."
Watch the "Finding Lulu" trailer in the ROFFEKE World Day for Audio Visual Heritage 2022 playlist.
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