Bully (2011)

A documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America.

Director:

Lee Hirsch

Writers:

Cynthia Lowen, Lee Hirsch

Stars:

Ja'Meya Jackson, Kelby Johnson, Lona Johnson

8 wins & 19 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ja'Meya Jackson	...	Herself
Kelby Johnson	...	Herself
Lona Johnson	...	Herself
Bob Johnson	...	Himself
Alex Libby	...	Himself
Jackie Libby	...	Herself
Philip Libby	...	Himself
Maya Libby	...	Herself
Jada Libby	...	Herself
Ethan Libby	...	Himself
Logan Libby	...	Himself
Kim Lockwood	...	Herself
David Long	...	Himself
Tina Long	...	Herself
Teryn Long	...	Herself

Storyline

This year, over 13 million American kids will be bullied at school, online, on the bus, at home, through their cell phones and on the streets of their towns, making it the most common form of violence young people in this country experience. BULLY is the first feature documentary film to show how we've all been affected by bullying, whether we've been victims, perpetrators or stood silent witness. The world we inhabit as adults begins on the playground. BULLY opens on the first day of school. For the more than 13 million kids who'll be bullied this year in the United States, it's a day filled with more anxiety and foreboding than excitement. As the sun rises and school busses across the country overflow with backpacks, brass instruments and the rambunctious sounds of raging hormones, this is a ride into the unknown. For a lot of kids, the only thing that's certain is that this year, like every other, bullying will be a big part of whatever meets them at their school's front doors. ...

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Plot Keywords:

bullying | bully | bullying victim | sexual insult | high school boy | 

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Taglines:

Everything changes when it's your child.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense thematic material, disturbing content, and some strong language - all involving kids

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 2012 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

Bully

Filming Locations:

Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$116,472 (USA) (30 March 2012)

Gross:

$4,038,876 (USA) (9 November 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bully Project, The, Where We Live Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anderson Cooper is a strong advocate of this documentary and the movement against bullying that it has stimulated. It was featured on Anderson Cooper 360° (2003) in October 2011, at the "Bullying: It Stops Here" town hall program special. Kelly Ripa, Rosalind Wiseman and Phil McGraw also shared their reactions to and support of the movie.

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Goofs

The scene where Alex is walking down the street and throwing a stick is inverted. The "Mitsubishi" text on the back of the truck is flipped.

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Quotes

Alex: People think that I'm not normal.

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Connections

References Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

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Soundtracks

From A Sinking Boat
Written by Stephen Merritt
Performed by The Magnetic Fields
Courtesy of Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Not very good, despite a good message

If this was aimed at appealing to young people who bully others, it won't. It's long, drawn-out and is basically preaching to the choir throughout most of the movie. So much of the "emotion" seems staged and forced, almost to the point of whoring out the people involved.

Basically, this disjointed documentary follows the lives of a handful of families effected by bullying, all in backwoods towns. Never once do they show any factual statistics, nor do they have any experts giving opinions. It's very dry, and feels as dull as the dusty bible-belt towns they're filming in.

If they really wanted to stop the bullying, then they'd:

1. Make the film interesting. It really is not for 90% of the film, unless you find emotional hemorrhaging entertaining.

2. Show hidden camera footage of what these kids really have to go through to burn it in the minds of the viewers. As it stands, you get little clips of kids being mean, but as someone who was bullied as a child quite often, I can tell you that what was shown is a watered down version that pales in comparison to what most kids go through.

3. Give out statistics to show how the problem is significant and effects a large number of people. (it does)

4. Get inside the psyche of not only the bullied, but the bullies themselves. To fix bullies, you first have to find the causes and how to motivate them to stop.

5. Have experts give testimony as to how to solve the problems, and give advice on what works and doesn't work.

As it stands, this film is emotional masturbation for the families victimized by bullying, and that doesn't serve any real purpose other than their own catharsis. If you show this to kids, they'll either roll their eyes or fall asleep. This film, if it was honestly aimed at starting some sort of movement, was a joke.