Prior
to seeing the movie “Bully”, I’d read countless reviews about just how
impactful it was, yet I was still skeptic. However, after finally seeing the
movie I am able to understand what everyone was talking about. I still feel as
if the credit should not be giving to the movie maker but to Alex Ja’maya and
especially Kelby.
The
movies tag line “Be a hero. Take a stand” doesn’t really seem to apply much, if
at all. But perhaps that is the point of the movie. The movie focuses mainly on
a young kid named Alex who is constantly seen being punched and pushed
throughout the school day. The worst of the torture isn’t even seen until the
bus ride home. The other kids yell the f-bomb more times than I could even
count and its truly disheartening. I, myself couldn’t even fathom the kids I
hung around with at that age, acting like that. Seeing Alex stabbed with
pencils and shoved into the bus seats made me almost mad at the fact that I was
unable to help him. At one point it even seems as if the bus driver sees what’s
going on, but cracks a minor smirk and keeps driving. Other adults besides the
bus driver, like the teachers or administrators didn’t seem to care much ether.
The scary part is the fact that they knew, but had attitude like “boys will be
boys” or didn’t mind that the kid was getting beaten up because he was the teacher’s
pet. To an extent these notions make perfect sense, but not when you know the
kid already has low self esteem, and is nowhere near able to defend himself. The
scene where they made the kids shake hands seemed almost staged, to get the
kids’ problems out of their hair.
I
also kind of found it odd how the film maker focused on Alex nearly the whole
time. What I found the most heart breaking was seeing Ja’maya in jail, for
pulling out a gun while aboard a school bus. Sure, what she did is wrong, but
cant adults see that it was purely a cry for help? All she needed was someone
to talk to, and be left alone by the kids on the bus. These kids aren’t being
heard, and often resort to outlandish things, all in hopes of just getting some
attention
Kelby
was the most inspiring story due to her attitude and supportive parents. Kelby
should be somewhat of a poster child, for kids who are being bullied. Her
strong personality is key if you are constantly being put down day after day in
school .Her outlook on life was more defined than people older than me. But is
also bothers me that hers sexualities influence on how people treated her may
have been the reason she is so tough. If this is the case, than I most
certainly feel bad for her because she was unable to live the life of a kid, which
is above all else, care free.
The
footage that the film maker was able to capture was great, but in no way speaks
to his talent. The film being raw did help, but it could have been a bit more
polished. For instance, the film’s title should have played a part. I would
have found in interesting of the film maker was able to interview the bullies
behind all of this sadness, and what makes them treat their peers so badly. But
I understand with all these new laws about confidentiality, there are a lot of
stipulations. This also holds true for the teacher, we are in the age of
lawsuits, and God forbid a teacher try to break up a fight, s/he will be sued
for sexually harassment.
Overall
the film was very raw and showed just how much kids have to go through these
days, just because they are different from everyone else, a real shame. The
film did what it was suppose to, in that it brought awareness to widespread and
detrimental bullying is. Hopefully the next step is that appropriate actions
will be taken in educating everyone on bully prevention.
