BULLY (2011)

Cinematography and Directed By: Lee Hirsch
Written By: Lee Hirsch & Cynthia Lowen
Editor: Jenny Golden & Lindsay Utz

This year, over 13 million American kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns, making it the most common form of violence young people in this country experience. BULLY is the first feature documentary film to show how we've all been affected by bullying, whether we've been victims, perpetrators or stood silent witness. The world we inhabit as adults begins on the playground. BULLY opens on the first day of school. For the more than 13 million kids who'll be bullied this year in the United States, it's a day filled with more anxiety and foreboding than excitement. As the sun rises and school busses across the country overflow with backpacks, brass instruments and the rambunctious sounds of raging hormones, this is a ride into the unknown. For a lot of kids, the only thing that's certain is that this year, like every other, bullying will be a big part of whatever meets them at their school's front doors.

This film opens the audiences eyes to a problem that we all have had experience with and acknowledge as a part of life, but this documentary also exposes how dangerous and deep the problem is becoming in certain cases. Even once you stand up to the bullies or alert others in charge of it. It persists for whatever reasons.

While the film shows many cases and the different factors that go into each. The film breaks your heart as you sit and watch some answers and solutions are brought forth, but aren’t the same for all. So it ends up being ultimately frustrating as you see all these problems and pain happening to good and sensitive kids. Though you are left with no answers nor resolutions that leaves you bewildered and as frustrated as the parents are.

It gives you the story behind many headlines you might have heard of or seen yourself. I’m glad for this films existence and should be seen. I hope that it opens up a dialogue on how to deal with this problem. Yet i wish more could or had been done on camera.

The really sad part is that this is only a small fraction of what is happening nationally and doesn’t stop in childhood. The individuals and their situations touch your heart as you witness their lives and not only hear their confessions and testimonials, but also witness some of the abuse that is their day to day life.

We also get to hear some of the reasoning from the actual bullies. The truly appalling part is seeing how school individuals try but really are useless to a point and say they will handle it, but are left with nothing to go and the law looks at it as a poor excuse or their hands are tied until it builds up and reaches a point of no return. That results in suicide or criminal action. All can’t be solved by just fighting back or standing up as it solves some problems, but escalates the dangers for others

Bully was originally rated R for language. The Weinstein Company appealed for a lower rating, as the R rating would exclude the very audience that is was intended for - high-school teens. The MPAA refused to alter the rating, so the distributor surrendered the original rating and opted for their film to be released 'Unrated' to the theaters. Finally, the filmmakers agreed to cut some, but not all, of the relevant language, and the MPAA did agree to re-rate the movie PG-13. The PG-13 version does keep intact all the language in the scene that was the main point of contention between the filmmakers and the MPAA, in which a 12-year-old is physically and verbally attacked on his school bus by his classmates.

GRADE: B+