92% Bully

Already the most important Documentary of the year. Like a real time therapy session for anybody who has ever been bullied in school, "The Bully Project" or "Bully" as it has been retitled, may not only be responsible for stirring up more pre-release controversy than any documentary in recent history, but also be one of the timeliest documentaries ever released. What director Lee Hirsch tries to do here, is give audiences and inside look at bullying in today's public schools by actually documenting a few victimized teens (ranging in ages from 12 to 16) as they are in the midst of day to day social bullying. The film begins with the story of a boy named Tyler, who killed himself as a direct result of being constantly ridiculed and physically abused from his peers at school. Hirsch films Tyler's parents as they discuss the dire epidemic that is school bullying today, and then we get to see bullying through the eyes of a child in a heartbreaking reality, as Hirsh introduces audiences to Alex, age 12. Alex is an undersized boy who is subjected to constant ridicule and scorn from his peers. And I'm not just talking about older kids at school calling him names. Hirsch follows Alex as he is seen getting his lunch stolen, physically hit in the back of the head, shoved to the ground and in one case stabbed with a pencil on the bus (as the bus driver does nothing). The tragic mental and physical abuse this child goes through will reduce many audience members to tears instantaneously. For others, the emotional damage this young man goes through on screen will be nothing less than anger inducing. If you had forgotten how bad it was being a teenager when you went to school, Alex will serve as a not so subtle reminder of how brutal some kids have it. And what's worse is Hirsch's depiction of how out of touch the adults are with their children, in conjunction with how seemingly unflinching school administrators act when confronted about bullying in their own schools. Now "Bully" may sound like a film that is subtly attempting to scapegoat teachers for not taking bullying more seriously. And there is no doubt that some anti-"Waiting For Superman" company man will ridicule this film for placing a lot of the blame on school administrators, but offering up little solutions. But while some can see this film with "blame game" glasses on, the real moral of the story here is only to show how much bullying is in fact a nationwide epidemic, that needs to be addressed in a more serious open forum than it has been (in the past). Not to take away from my review, but allow me to be critical for a moment. If I had to say that there was anything essentially wrong with Hirsch's film, I would have to bring up two points of contention: 1. On a strictly filmmaking note, and not to sound like an uncaring Bully supporting Republican or anything, let's just say (when pertaining strictly to the structure of the film) that not all bullied children are created equal. Aside from Alex, Hirsch also follows Kelby, age 16. She is a lesbian living in the South, reminiscing over all of the verbal and physical abuse she had suffered by the hands of her Bible belt, homophobic peers and teachers; to the point where she had to leave school. So, while her story is compelling, it is told from the point of view of a person who has already been through the ringer, while Alex is seen as still being in the trenches. Hirsch also followed the extreme case of a girl named Ja'Meya, age 14. Ja'Meya is a Southern girl who actually fought back, by taking a gun on the school bus with her after (what seems like) extensive bullying. Ok, so I could see where Hirsch was going with this storyline, attempting to show what a child could be reduced to do under the heightened stress of constant bullying. But watching Ja'Meya's plot play out, it became glaringly apparent that her story doesn't quite fit with the flow of this film. In fact, Ja'Meya's story brings "Bully" to a halt a few times. I really don't know how else to explain it. The truth is, all these two storylines do is amplify how compelling and truly heart-wrenching little Alex's scenes really are. In saying all of that, I am not ridiculing or downplaying what Kelby and Ja'Meya went through. I am strictly (and very slightly) ridiculing the director's storytelling abilities. And 2. "Bully" does not touch on any of the online bullying, which (in this reviewer's opinion) will serve as a HUGE mistake on the filmmaker's part. I know that Hirsch finished filming around the same time as all of the online suicides and that rather large anti bullying campaign a few years ago. So for there to be absolutely no mention of cyber-bullying in this film is rather perplexing. Final Thought: Unfortunately at times the subject matter of "Bully" is better than the film itself, even though Hirsch does daring work. What I mean by that is, that for how hard hitting his subject matter was, the filmmaking (or how the film was put together) could have been better if it would have included every aspect of bullying. In many ways this film only scratches the surface. In saying that, the film does more than serve its purpose. This isn't just a movie about the struggles of fitting in. This is an uncensored look into a bullying epidemic that up until a few years ago had been mostly swept under the rug of American society. So, even though it is doubtful that "Bully" will be the most well made documentary I see all year, it will most definitely be the most important; and one not only every child should see, but entire families should see together. Side Note: Ever since the Weinstein Company has been petitioning the MPAA to assign "Bully" a "PG-13" rating instead of the dreaded "R", there has been controversy surrounding its distribution. There have since been reports that the Weinstein Company plans to release this documentary as "Unrated" to get around the MPAA stranglehold, which may doom it to the dreaded "limited release" realm of no return and rarely seen. High profile advocates of this films message, such as Anderson Cooper, Phil McGraw, Kelly Ripa and novelist Rosalind Wiseman, have ridiculed the MPAA for their seeming attempt to keep children from seeing "a film that every child must see." And I tend to strongly side with their platform. So what is the deal? Why was (until quite recently) "Bully" pulling an "R" rating? Does "Bully" advocate bullying? No. Does it use language that your twelve year son/daughter/sister/brother doesn't hear at school every day of his/her life? No. Is the violence and depictions of ACTUAL Bullying in this film gratuitous? Again, no. And (the one that terrifies the MPAA the most) is there any nudity? NOOOOOO. The biggest controversy of this film, and the main idiotic reason that this film pulled an "R" rating for the longest time, is the fact that audiences will actually see middle school and high school kids visibly getting shoved around, punched, and called awful names. And while the images here will be disturbing to parents and teens alike, they need to be seen by a demographic that is actually living through the controversial themes the movie brings up. The awful truth is that 13 million children are bullied every day. So, for the MPAA to have slapped it with an "R" rating is simply irresponsible. "Bully" is a cut and dry example of subject matter superseding the MPAA's fundamentally rigid beliefs of counting the number of F-bombs in a movie. Watch a documentary called "This Film is Not Yet Rated"; this is nothing new from the geniuses who run the MPAA. Written by Markus Robinson, Edited by Nicole I. Ashland Please visit my page on Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/x-52464-San-Jose-Indie-Movie-Examiner and leave any comments you have about this or any review. The more hits I get the better. Thank you. Follow me on Twitter @moviesmarkus

March 30, 2012

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