Bully

In a world of competition one less competitor is a victory for the survivor. We know today that it is cooperation that brlngs about development amongst humans and not competition which only brings about degeneration and death. The American society that allows rich men to bully poor men to death is a society of apes, more or less. Actually it's worse than a society of apes. Competition is hailed because, like this film and other occurrences show, it keeps the poor fighting each other for the crumbs from the rich's table and keeps them from cooperating to get rid of the rich bullies. The American way of life is an abomination - get rid of it.

The issue of bullying has started to get seriously discussed in the past few years, mainly due to suicides, often due to anti-gay bullying. "Bully" looks at bullying in general. Much of it consists of interviews with the bullied students and their parents. One of the important points that the documentary makes is that there is that the reaction to bullying is often "boys will be boys". "Bully" makes the point that these things will continue until we as a society say that it's not acceptable for anyone to let this to happen to people, especially in settings where children expect to be safe. Are we ready to say "Enough is enough" and prevent bullying before it starts?

--- As a retired law enforcement officer I literally shook with a rage and a fury I haven't felt since I retired while watching this documentary. The problem I saw in these schools was school officials who were more interested in whining about the issue and hoping it would go away on its own rather than becoming pro-active in dealing with it. You start anti-bullying programs in the schools, counseling for victims, a zero tolerance policy and mandatory penalties toward bulling, group sessions with accused kids about what harm they are inflicting, get the PTA involved, require REQUIRE all parents to attend a meeting at the start of school years at which the school's zero tolerance policy and penalties are explained and if they do not attend then their kids do not start school just like vaccination policies. Instead these so called leaders were not really doing much of anything other than trying to defend their zero action response to bullying. --- The documentary makers did a good job in showing the problem and then left the rest up to others. I think they should have maybe spent a bit more time in being a resource about what can be done to deal with the problems rather than just showing it. I also know that I would have been interested to learn a little more about what happened to the kids involved. Though I give credit to the makers for taking a hidden issue and shining the light of day on it.

The most powerful documentaries are those that speak for themselves. They let their subjects do the talking and lead the film. This is, by far, Bully's greatest strength. This powerful doc. tells the story of several different families who encounter bullying in different ways. We follow a few families dealing with suicides as a result of bullying, one family whose son is dealing with bullying on an everyday basis, and one family whose daughter is in youth behavioral detention from having brought a gun onto a bus. Each story is a different, powerful facet of bullying and the journey is moving and heart breaking. At the center, however, is the main argument that not enough is being done by the adults to prevent bullying.

As stated, the film is told by it's subjects. We witness the bullying that occurs first hand, follow the subjects in their everyday lives, and see first hand the divide between the kids who are bullied and the adults who either do nothing or are unaware of the problem. Other parents deal with the loss of their child through suicide stemmed from bullying and their efforts to change the school systems and law enforcement that ignore the problem. Like any good film, and documentary for that matter, we have our heroic underdogs and our villains. In this case, our heroes are the bullied and our villains are those behind the broken system that allows bullying to continue. One woman in particular displays aptly the real problem and does so with finesse. I will say, by the end of the movie, you'll want to punch her in the face for being such a....well, I can't use that word in this review.

The tragedies in this film are supplemented by a handful of moments that really grab at you. From hearing a man who lost his son use politics as an example to a confrontation in the aforementioned woman's office, the film has a good arc about it. We root for change to happen and for these kids lives to improve, for there to be hope, and there is. Even though the tragedies are rough and even a bit tough to watch at times, we are rewarded with the hope of better days and an improvement. As someone who was a victim of bullying and has known many others to also be victims of bullying, it's refreshing to see that people are standing up all over the world and attempting to do something about it. To say that this film is important is just touching on what it means for this doc to be made.

That isn't to say the film is perfect. Far from it, there's a lot that could have been done. First, the film isn't especially well rounded. We don't get the opposite point of view. Having some of the bullies interviewed would have been a bit interesting I think. It would have also been nice to see some bullies and bullied as adults and what they think. The film also doesn't really look at anything beyond the immediate situation. We don't get any statistical data about bullies or a big variation on the kinds of bullying that occurs. We are simply presented with a few not so unique victims. Perhaps it was simply the filmmakers intention to show us a broken system and those trying to change it, but I would have preferred more variety, however, in the presentation of this problem.

Beyond this, the film is truly great. I can't stress the importance enough of this documentary. With all that goes on in this country these days, it's easy to overlook how important this matter is and how vital it is for the adults involved to put an end to bullying. Especially powerful are the numerous stories of child suicides which reinforce the importance of the issue. I'd even go so far as to say this documentary should be mandated watching for schools. If you have children, find a way for them to see this film. It is one of the most important films of our time.

I HOPE AND PRAY this women was fired after this documentary!! She literally does NOTHING to the bullies. During one scene she even pulled the child that was being bullied aside and let the bully go!!! It is disgusting, suspend and expell these children and I guarantee their parents or guardians will then do something about there children bullying others. Get rid of ALL staff that is not disciplining children each and everytime they are bullying a child!!! I swear I hope and pray this principal or assistant was fired!!! That poor baby thought it was okay because you as a school and district failed him!