Millions of children across the continent have been bullied, continue to be bullied or will be bullied this year. Chances are likely we all know someone who has been a victim of bullying at some point. The fact that bullying is the most common form of violence experienced by young people in the United States makes it a sad reality, one that is very difficult to face. It is a crisis that we do not want to accept and worse still, it is an issue for which we seem to have no right answer. In an attempt to shed light on the pain and suffering endured by those affected by bullying, Lee Hirsch delivers a new documentary film called BULLY, which offers "an intimate, unflinching look at how bullying has touched five kids and their families."
BULLY is a beautifully cinematic, character-driven documentary. At its heart are those with huge stakes in this issue whose stories each represent a different facet of America’s bullying crisis. Filmed over the course of the 2009/2010 school year, BULLY opens a window onto the pained and often endangered lives of bullied kids, revealing a problem that transcends geographic, racial, ethnic and economic borders. It documents the responses of teachers and administrators to aggressive behaviors that defy “kids will be kids” clichés, and it captures a growing movement among parents and youths to change how bullying is handled in schools, in communities and in society as a whole. Parents play a vital role in supporting their kids, promoting upstander rather than bystander behavior, and teaching and modeling empathy in the home.
You hear about it in the news. You read about it in the paper. You may even come across a tweet or status update on Facebook. When a child takes his own life, we are instantly devastated by the tragedy, especially when the child is merely 11 years of age. And it isn't until you walk a mile in someone's shoes that you can begin to comprehend how bullying can affect a young child so deeply that he feels the only way to end the suffering is by ending his own life, such as 17-year-old Tyler. Or how a victim of bullying can reach a certain breaking point that she feels her only recourse is to take a gun onto a school bus to defend herself, such as 14-year-old Ja'Meya. The film BULLY tells the stories of five children and their families and reveals an alarming need to take action. It is a film that will have you in tears within the first five minutes and leave you in tears at the very end, shaking your head over the senselessness of it all.
It's time to take a stand.
- Tuesday, February 12, 2013
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