Gripping and Alarming
I was happy to see that this documentary was available on my in-flight movie list this summer. I had yet to see it and I felt that as a future teacher I had a slight moral obligation to watch it. Unfortunately, what I was met with extremely moving and depressing stories of bullying in America. The film does an excellent job of taking a social problem and brining it to the forefront of national concern.
The film follows the lives of six families who have been affected by bullying at their local schools. The camera teams captured unthinkable utterances and physical aggressions that are undoubtedly taking place elsewhere in the United States; these are not isolated incidents. The documentary accomplishes what it sets out to do: make people aware of bullying by showing the world what negative consequences can come if bullying is not stopped and our nation's children do not learn how to become respectful human beings.
The documentary falls short however of coming up with effective means of ending bullying. Clearly, we are shown that not only are kids to blame for their actions, but also the administrative powers in our schools, from principals to individual teachers. It would have been nice to seen some approaches towards how to end this behavior, but regardless, the film is educational and informative, enough to make sure that people are aware of this nationwide problem.
Documentaries are always interesting to write reviews about, because you cannot comment on characters or story all that much. However, I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone, whether you have kids or not, work with kids, or are simply unaware of what bullying is.
Written July 5, 2013
The film follows the lives of six families who have been affected by bullying at their local schools. The camera teams captured unthinkable utterances and physical aggressions that are undoubtedly taking place elsewhere in the United States; these are not isolated incidents. The documentary accomplishes what it sets out to do: make people aware of bullying by showing the world what negative consequences can come if bullying is not stopped and our nation's children do not learn how to become respectful human beings.
The documentary falls short however of coming up with effective means of ending bullying. Clearly, we are shown that not only are kids to blame for their actions, but also the administrative powers in our schools, from principals to individual teachers. It would have been nice to seen some approaches towards how to end this behavior, but regardless, the film is educational and informative, enough to make sure that people are aware of this nationwide problem.
Documentaries are always interesting to write reviews about, because you cannot comment on characters or story all that much. However, I would definitely recommend this movie to everyone, whether you have kids or not, work with kids, or are simply unaware of what bullying is.
Written July 5, 2013