Bully Critique

Bully is the first feature documentary to show how individuals have been effected by
bullying whether playing the role as victims, committers or standing as a silent witness. Bully,
Lee Hirschs inspirational and troubling documentary about the misery some children perpetrate
upon others, follows the stories of five different families whose children are dealing with
bullying on a daily basis. These stories include two families who have lost their children due to
suicide and a mother whose 14 year old daughter has been imprisoned after bringing a gun on the
school bus. Parents, teachers, administrators, and kids struggle to find answers to why bullying is
occurring and in what way they should approach the bullying act. Lee Hirsh hopes that his
documentary will change the way that parents, teachers and the society approach the act of
bullying
Bully is a film that is not to be taken lightly. These are actual stories about real children
who are tormented every single day for no other reason than for being a bit different from others.
It is heartbreaking to see Alex (who was born at 26 weeks and as a result looks physically
different) get hit repeatedly, threatened harshly, and name-called ceaselessly for nothing more
than the way he looks. It is enraging to see the hate Kelby (a girl from a small town who came
out as gay) has to endure just because of her sexual orientation. And to hear JaMeyas story of
how she was imprisoned for a bit and brought to court for an unbelievable amount of charges
when she took a gun on her bus so she could feel strong enough to finally stand up to her
tormentors is infuriating.
The documentary bully does an exceptional job allowing the stories to
realistically capture bullying from the victims and the individuals around it point of view. The
documentary captures the victims point of view by interviewing them on the current bulling
situations they are involved in. By sharing the voices of those around victims of bullying, it
shows how bullying can affect an entire community rather than just one person that is being
victimized.
Another thing the documentary does well is capturing the reactions of officials who are
assisting the students and parents dealing with bullying. One specific scene includes Alexs
assistant principal dealing with a victim and a bully in the hall. Even though these students arent

the main characters of the film, the interaction between them and the assistant principal is
shocking. Every scene like this challenges the viewer mentally and emotionally.
One flaw is that the film Bully never approaches the bullys point of view. Even though it
is extremely important for the bullying stories to be told from the victims point of view, it
excludes the bullys point which makes the film seem as it is biased. I think the bully point of
view should be approached throughout the film to hear their side of the story to make the film
unbiased. Also it it make create an idea to why bullying may be occurring
The film makes the connection between bullying and suicide too modest. It is possible
that other factors could have led to the suicides portrayed and the documentary should have
reflected that. The film just shows how the act bullying has pushed the victims towards suicide
rather them showing other factors that could have led to the victim to their suicide.