A strong story that touches some very delicate and striking points: the fragility of children and how something, like the bullying, can trigger a terrible action when it is combined with a mental impairment in progress.
While it is true that the bullying is not the cause of the final action in the film, this is largely a catalyst and, in the end, what turns out to be the trigger is a heartbreak. But bullying and a broken heart is not enough to turn you into a killer, there is something deeper in the mind. A childhood with huge emotional conflicts; as underestimation, frustration, anger and helplessness and loneliness, can lead a fragile person, and with a broken psyche, to a total detachment to others with a fatal outcome.
In the end, the vulnerability of the girl (the character portrayed by Britt Robertson) and the memory of having acted unfairly and without any real motivation in its infancy, make him reassess their actions and, fortunately for her, gives to policemen enough time to act and finish the attack. That is why, we can see the final scene where he, as a child, is seen releasing the rabbit instead of kill it. It is an allegory about redemption you get when you forgive someone innocent (the "White Rabbit" is the helpless girl). And the rabbit in his mind, is the representation of his own guilt, and the inner voice who, at the end, says him that it's time to leave, the indication that he is dying and this is the end... without being able to fix the things that he has made.
While it is true that the bullying is not the cause of the final action in the film, this is largely a catalyst and, in the end, what turns out to be the trigger is a heartbreak. But bullying and a broken heart is not enough to turn you into a killer, there is something deeper in the mind. A childhood with huge emotional conflicts; as underestimation, frustration, anger and helplessness and loneliness, can lead a fragile person, and with a broken psyche, to a total detachment to others with a fatal outcome.
In the end, the vulnerability of the girl (the character portrayed by Britt Robertson) and the memory of having acted unfairly and without any real motivation in its infancy, make him reassess their actions and, fortunately for her, gives to policemen enough time to act and finish the attack. That is why, we can see the final scene where he, as a child, is seen releasing the rabbit instead of kill it. It is an allegory about redemption you get when you forgive someone innocent (the "White Rabbit" is the helpless girl). And the rabbit in his mind, is the representation of his own guilt, and the inner voice who, at the end, says him that it's time to leave, the indication that he is dying and this is the end... without being able to fix the things that he has made.