Product Details

• Actors: N, A
• Directors: N, A
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: A&E HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: January 15, 2008
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000WOSB32
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,842 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

COLUMBINE:UNDERSTANDING WHY - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid, March 15, 2010

By 

Jeffrey Roser - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A&E Investigative Reports: Columbine - Understanding Why (DVD)

This was clearly nothing but filler programming by A&E in a sorry attempt to exploit what happened at Columbine for every penny they can get out of it. It's said you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover; the same should be said about this DVD so that others don't make the mistake I did and waste $14.

The show starts out with claiming that since Columbine has happened, people have only asked "how?", but nobody has been asking "why?" Funny thing is, I remember people asking "Why?" on the day it happened. In fact, that question seemed to be asked way, way more than any other. Then the narrator claims that a group calling themselves the Threat Assessment Group, or "T.A.G.", will perform a "psychological autopsy" to see 4/20/99 as Dylan and Eric did, promising to reach a conclusion, even though that conclusion will be very complicated. One of the members of T.A.G. asks the intriguing question of "Did Dylan ever shoot when Eric wasn't around?" (despite the fact that this doesn't even really have much to do with what they're out to discover, this question is never answered or referenced anywhere later in the show). What follows is about thirty minutes of pseudo-science ramble, a look at the violent video games and movies Dylan and Eric enjoyed, and interviews with some kids who probably just heard the gunshots down the hall (because all the good people to interview, such as those who were close to Dylan and Eric, already did better interviews for better reports; that's what happens when you wait until three years after the event has occured). Oh yeah, there's about 2 minutes filler of the narrator shooting guns as well, despite it being completely irrelevant to anything going on.

T.A.G.'s conclusion? Dyland and Eric were bullied and angry. Gee, thanks for answering the question guys, and going as in-depth as you promised.

Save yourself the money. There are only two good things about this DVD:

1. The cover (which is the most famous picture of the pair, so you can find it just about anywhere else as well).
2. The footage of Dylan and Eric (which can also be found elsewhere for free).

There's better information and footage available on Youtube. I know this is a long rant, but I'm irked I wasted my money. Avoid.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some Issues Missing, May 11, 2008

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A&E Investigative Reports: Columbine - Understanding Why (DVD)

The show begins with saying, "Many shows have looked at the facts of the Columbine tragedy, but we are trying to look into the heads of the killers." Court TV has a profiler show and it's very viewer-friendly as it nicely glues together all the pieces. After watching this disc, I didn't feel at all that we know all that was happening with these teen boys and how we can prevent it from happening again. In fact, I think we've had school killings that were bigger than this one now.

Bill Curtis narrated, "Both students were fascinated by German culture." Then nothing more is said. The killers both embraced a nefarious leader and took their actions on his birthday. The work never explains why they embraced him. Also, the work emphasizes that the two were bullied. However, reports say they purposely killed students from oppressed backgrounds. Instead of identifying with underdogs, they wanted to join the societal forces that hurt underdogs. This documentary never touches that, and it's offensive that they didn't.

Bill Curtis repeatedly suggested, "Here we are trying to make an awesome psychological study and the darned law and legal system keep putting blocks up!" Well, get over it! Maybe if court cases are still pending, then your TV show isn't the be-all-to-end-all. In no way, do I ever want to encourage any person in this planet to go to law school or think of that arena as being godlike. However, Curtis' whining bothered me. The experts here later use the court system to obtain information, so they are hypocritical in criticizing the tool that they also do and want to access.

1.0 out of 5 stars Viewed on Netflix - the painful irony of this documentary, August 2, 2011

By 

Linda Lee Dobbins - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A&E Investigative Reports: Columbine - Understanding Why (DVD)

NOTE: I have given this title one star because it is not possible to post a review with no stars. In addition, I will not flag this review as containing spoilers because there can be no spoilers pertaining to this documentary, because there is nothing of merit stated that isn't completely obvious to anyone who knows anything about the perpetrators of the Columbine massacre.

It is also worthy to note that, of the three reviews of this documentary posted prior to this, none mentioned a very curious portion of the program; that being the last specific contributing factor mentioned as the potential "why" of Columbine.

At the outset of the program, we are introduced to the members of the Threat Assessment Group, known as "TAG." The program's host, Bill Kurtis, states that TAG has been assembled in the "...hope to prevent a massacre like Columbine from ever happening again. And TAG asked Investigative Reports to go along."

During the program, it is stated repeatedly that the killers wished to leave behind a legacy, to be remembered, to have fame. The killers' names are mentioned countless times throughout the program. Not once was even one single name of any of the victims mentioned.

Investigative Reports: If you were HOPING to give the killers exactly what the members of "TAG" indicated they so clearly wanted, you have done a marvelous service for them.

And now for the painfully glaring irony: from 41:53 to 42:29, the narration, news footage, and subsequent dialogue of District Attorney Dave Thomas is as follows:

Bill Kurtis, narrating: "And [PAUSE FOR EFFECT]... the media has lessons to learn as well."

[from news footage following the incident] "I'll take one or two more questions. That's all."

District Attorney Dave Thomas: "Each time we have a nationally publicized mass murder, we expect there to be another one within two weeks, if the coverage was big enough. And I can't tell you how many times I've been right on this, and how frustrating it is to have been, for twenty years, been asking the press to stop giving national coverage to mass murder, because it creates new ones."

Being that Investigative Reports was produced by A&E Network, a channel owned by "A&E Television Networks (currently branded as A+E Networks and formerly also known as AETN)...a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad" (information from Wikipedia), one can only assume that this program was broadcast nationally, if not internationally.

Kudos to you, A&E, for completely missing Thomas' point.

Jump back to the beginning of the program and add further insult to insufferable injury: the very logo of the series is ironic--it's an image of crosshairs. And its host, making extremely affected hand gestures that I gather are intended indicate some sort of profundity, states:

"We'll follow a group of forensic scientists who will conduct what is called a psychiatric autopsy; interviewing as many people involved in the tragedy as possible; to provide some answers to why it happened [PAUSE FOR EFFECT] and maybe [PAUSE FOR EFFECT] prevent it in the future."

Bill Kurtis, "in this [PAUSE FOR EFFECT] SPECIAL EDITION of Investigative Reports," your friends and family must be very proud of you. I feel safe in stating that if they are, heaven forbid, they are the only ones in that very select minority.