Lee Hirsch’s documentary, Bully, originally titled "The Bully Project", doesn’t set out to achieve a lot of things. Its entire focus is on spreading awareness on a beast named bullying that preys on millions of kids across the U.S. daily. Long gone are the days when the threat was dismissed as simply “kids will be kids”. Unfortunately, many parents, kids and educators continue to remain oblivious to the true magnitude of the problem. Bully makes a genuine effort of changing that and informing its audience of the danger they may be ignoring. Let’s take a look at the Bully movie review to see how Hirsch has gone about his attempt to stir feelings, realization and response.

The plight of victims

Bully, the movie presents five interwoven stories, all depicting the disturbingly honest picture of the hurt that some kids inflict on others. The focus in the documentary is on five students and a couple of families from four different states who are all victims of bullying in one way or another. Each victim is shown to react to the bullying situation in a different way. Two of the victims, namely Tyler Long and Ty Smalley, end their lives to escape the torment. Following their death, their parents go on a crusade against bullying to protect other kids and parents from a similar fate.

Ja’Meya Jackson sneaks her mother’s gun onto the school bus where she’s routinely subjected to bullying and terrorizes her bullies. She gets incarcerated as a result. Kelby Johnson is shunned by her neighbors and friends, and becomes a target of vile comments after she comes out as a lesbian. Alex Libby, a timid loner who routinely gets intimidated, humiliated and assaulted, especially on the bus to and from school, decides not to tell his parents anything.

Let down by their protectors

Pushed to the edge, and in some cases over it, by the mental and physical torture they’re subjected to, all five students devise their own way of dealing with it. The question that is bound to come up is why none of the victims sought help from an adult. Hirsch, however, delivers an answer even before the question develops. Kids don’t expect a great deal of support from their parents and other institutions charged with protecting them. While some parents fail to notice what their kids may be going through, others react too late. Those that do act in time may receive little support and cooperation from the school administration.

This was clearly seen in Alex’s case, where the parents force the school administration to take action, but the vice-principal fails to offer any real help. In Ja’Meya’s case, the law enforcement officials charge her with 45 felonies and put her in a psychiatric hospital for juvenile offenders despite her conveying the reason for her action to them. The film highlights how adults and society on the whole inflicts hurt on the victims of bullying, making them feel alone and desperate.

A call to war

Bully is a documentary that aims to serve as a catalyst for change by informing parents, educators and kids what they’re up against and make them aware of the dire situation. It hopes to instill a sense of urgency and determination in its audience to rise against bulling and uproot it from the system.

On one hand, the documentary encourages parents to take more interest in their kids’ lives so that they may sense when something is wrong. On the other hand, it tries to make educators realize and accept their responsibility of keeping the kids safe. Hirsch also reaches out to the children through the film, hoping to make them realize that bullying is not okay under any circumstances and that they neither perpetrator it, not endure it.