It’s a shame that the cynical, thoroughly bogus ratings controversy being used to market “Bully’’ — more on that later — threatens to obscure the value of Lee Hirsch’s very well-meaning documentary.
Following five horrific case histories of youngsters bullied in schools while authorities more or less did nothing — two of the kids ended up killing themselves — it’s a powerful piece of work that might make a difference if enough people see it.
There’s some especially shocking hidden-camera footage of a geeky 12-year-old Iowan named Alex being shoved, strangled and punched by a bully on a school bus.
But even after the filmmakers share this footage with authorities, an assistant principal minimizes the problem and says they’re unable to police the bus to protect kids like Alex.
Life is also hellish for 16-year-old Kelby, a star athlete who is confronted by school-condoned hatred in her small Oklahoma town after she comes out as a lesbian.
Her parents offer to move, but she vows to stay and fight — until the situation becomes totally unbearable.
For Ja’Maya, 14, of Mississippi, the taunts get so bad that she brandishes a loaded handgun from her mother’s closet at her tormentors. This lands her in a juvenile detention facility with multiple felony counts.
The film also follows the parents of two children who committed suicide due to bullying and their campaign to demand accountability from school authorities.
As seen at a town hall meeting, principals and teachers give lip service but would mostly rather look the other way — especially in a community where bias against gay kids, or kids who might be gay, is defended on religious grounds.
Even if sexual identity issues aren’t involved, there’s a tendency to excuse macho bullying as “boys being boys.’’
It’s powerful stuff, and probably a more effective approach than a series of talking heads decrying bullying, which is estimated to affect 18 million American children.
And it’s nothing new, by the way: I still have a scar from the stitches on my forehead that were required when a bully pushed me into a wall at PS 122 in Queens when I was in the third grade.
It’s a huge irony that the man long considered one of the biggest bullies in the movie industry, Harvey Weinstein, has been trying to, well, bully the movie ratings board into changing the R rating it awarded to “Bully.’’
I have a lot of problems with the rating system, but the board was right to warn parents (and school officials) that “Bully’’ has several F-bombs (in the hidden-camera footage with Alex) by giving it an R.
If Weinstein wants “Bully’’ to be seen by as many people as possible, as he says, there’s no good reason those barely heard F-bombs can’t be bleeped. In my opinion, this won’t affect the film’s “artistic integrity” one whit, and it might actually help some bullied kids.
The Weinstein Co. has opted to release “Bully’’ without a rating, at least for its opening engagements in New York and Los Angeles. But the Hollywood Reporter says TWC may eventually alter the movie to secure a wider national release, once it’s milked this fake controversy for all it’s worth.