She Said Yes: A Video Tribute to Cassie Bernall from Her Friends

I'm not sure what's most offensive about this rushed-to-video (there's also a bestselling book called She Said Yes) "tribute" to Cassie Bernall, the junior at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, who was murdered along with several others on April 20, 1999. Both the video and the book stem from one highly publicized tragic exchange between Bernall and her killer: when asked whether she believed in God, Bernall said "yes." The video opens with an inexplicable montage of newsreel imagery from Columbine backed by a driving rock soundtrack (kind of like an extremely macabre MTV sequence). Then come the soundbites from Bernall's classmates: "I recognize more than ever that God does have a plan." "God was with us the whole time…we were so protected." "God made us invisible." And so on. The logic here seems to be that God masterminded the Littleton tragedy, targeting the slain and handpicking the saved--a notion that (I should think) both Christians and non-Christians alike would find repulsive. The actual "tribute" filmed in the church appears to be a pretty large multimedia event run by ministers with well-modulated, emotionless DJ voices. Oddly, the singlemost powerful part of the video comes at the end: backed by a lovely Christian song, a haunting montage of video clips and photos of Bernall remind us of the genuine, tragic loss of a vibrant young woman. Libraries may want to consider this sure to be popular item despite the absurd teen theology and inappropriate pairing of rock music and Columbine news footage. Optional. (R. Pitman)