A Better Place 1997

Barret Michaelson Robert DiPatri is an unwelcome newcomer in a public high school, frequently bullied by his new classmates. He has no friends until another misfit with a bad reputation, Ryan Eion Bailey, saves him from a beating in the men’s locker room. Ryan is a misanthropic existentialist with violent tendencies and a dark past, including the shock of his father murdering his mother and then killing himself in front of him when he was only ten years old.

The two become fast friends, spending much of their time together in philosophical conversations and exploring the world through a bleak, probing lens. Yet their bond is strained when they are caught up in an incident with a local landowner who claims they have trespassed on his property. Ryan throws a rock at the man, causing him to fall and break his neck on a rock. They manage to stage it as an accident, but the event pushes Barret to distance himself from Ryan. The separation leaves Ryan more isolated and emotionally volatile, and he becomes increasingly attached to Barret while nursing a growing grievance.

When Ryan endures a brutal beating at the hands of the very bully he once defended Barret against, his resolve hardens into a will for revenge. He bluntly tells Barret that he intends to shoot the bully to death, insisting that it is his “destiny” and that there is nothing Barret can do to stop him. Barret tries to dissuade him, but the plan moves forward as they drive to the place where the confrontation would take place. Ryan forces Barret at gunpoint to accompany him to the scene, where the two confront the target in a secluded area, smoking what is probably a joint.

Barret’s warning falls on deaf ears as Ryan closes in on the bully and pulls the trigger. The killing ignites a brutal sequence: after the shot, Barret attempts to incapacitate Ryan by striking him with a rock, but that blow proves ineffective. In the ensuing struggle, the gun discharges, claiming Ryan’s life. Barret then shoots him once more and, overwhelmed, tries to turn the gun on himself, only to discover that the weapon is out of bullets. In the end, the two teens’ choices ripple outward, leaving a haunting reminder of how quickly a day in a high school can spiral into tragedy.