“Bully” opens with two parents grieving at the grave of their late 17-year-old son, who endured appalling ridicule at school. One day, when a bully told him he was worthless and should hang himself, he reached his saturation point, and went home and did just that.
The new documentary, which premiered in Chattanooga last month, stirs up outrage. In one maddening scene, a school principal demands a bully and the boy he’s mistreating shake hands. When the bully extends his hand, the principal chastises the victim, who’s clearly rattled from the abuse, for not doing likewise. “You’re being just like him,” she says.
“Bully” is most effective in isolated moments like this. As a camera follows a young boy named Alex, a physically awkward and disheveled teen, it chronicles the verbal and physical cruelty other students mete out. They choke him and stab him with pencils, and one boy threatens to bring a knife to school and cut into him.
“Bully” might have been more aptly titled “Bullied,” since it focuses almost exclusively on the abused, and gives only a few seconds of screen time to the kids who do the actual bullying. The core message of the movie seems to be, “We need to do something about this,” but by not offering a complete look at bullying, it simply leaves viewers angry and thinking “Now what?”
As Karen Glenn mentions in her thoughtful commentary, David and Tina Long are heroes for stepping into the spotlight and speaking out on bullying. I pray their efforts bear fruit. But in “Bully,” no one, from law enforcement officers, to elected officials, to school officials, to parents, appears to have a clue about how to turn this bus around.
“I’ve been on Bus 54,” the principal says to Alex’s parents when they go to their son’s school to complain. “And those kids are golden.”
Maybe a good first step would be for her to get a clue.
“Bully” director Lee Hirsch curiously filmed only in rural and Middle America – the Bible Belt. But this problem is not relegated to the outskirts of our major cities. (Maybe that’s the point Hirsch wants to make.) It’s prevalent everywhere, including Hamilton County. Thankfully, there are many in our public and private schools and throughout our community who are working to address bullying, which ultimately bleeds into other issues, such as our gang problem. These people know it takes a village to raise a child, and they’re doing their part.
Others who are concerned and want to know what they can do, either in their home, the schools their children attend, or their neighborhoods, can contact Glenn at (423) 209-5535 or glenn_k@hcde.org. She definitely has a clue.