Bully

     There is a lot of problems facing kids today as they grow up. One of the bigger problems is that a kid’s life is so transparent now, with Facebook, cell phones and other social sites, everything they do is put out in the world. The negative of one’s life being an open book is that other people can find you and harass you in multiple places now. When I grew up, if kids picked on you at school that is where it ended, you went home and life was normal. Now if a kid wants to pick on another kid they can do it at school, on the Facebook wall, on their Twitter, and their cell phone. There is almost no where safe anymore.

     The new film “Bully” tries to bring attention to a growing problem with kids today.  Now kids are taking their own lives in order to escape the constant bombardment brought on them by their peers. The film follows five kids and you see firsthand the abuse they go through at the hands of the other students in their class. You have Alex, who it seems has been picked on for so long that he thinks it is acceptable. He laughs as the other kids are punching him and it seems at time he seeks out the abuse. We also meet Kelby, whose only crime is being gay in a in small town. Kelby tries and takes the abuse believing that a change starts with just one person. Some kids get bullied and they retaliate, something Ja’Maya does one day on the bus as she brings a gun, just to scare the kids that have been picking on her. The other two kids that the film focuses on are Tyler Long and Ty Field Smalley, both who take their own lives after being bullied for so long. The film has some disturbing footage of Alex being harassed both at school and on the bus, but the more disturbing thing you will see is the denial that the school administrators have that anything bad is happening.

    The Documentary opens up your eyes to problems that a lot of people know about, but who seem to do little about. Sometimes the film isn’t as good as the message, but does that matter? After the entire message is what you want to take with you, not the camera shots or great dialogue. All of the stories seem to take place is smaller southern towns. That isn’t to say that the problems are only there, but they are harder to hide from in smaller towns, where everyone knows everyone. “Bully” is a film every child should see from age 7 to 18 because sometimes it takes a mirror in order to change someone. Take your kids to see this film and talk to them about it afterwards because in the end the one way to stop this is at home with your own kids.

Brian Taylor