Bully

One challenge in watching a gut-wrenching and distressing documentary like 'Bully' is in trying to contain one's anger and natural reaction to yell at the screen every time a school official makes excuses for a student's mistreatment of his peers.

One school principal thinks forcing the cruel kid to shake hands and apologize is good enough, while reprimanding the victim for feeling uncomfortable with the situation, completely, and frankly, rather stupidly, ignoring his tearful comments that the bully will only beat him up again later. This happens only minutes after the same principal admits to the camera she doesn't know the remedy for fixing the issue and wishes more kids would speak up. By that point, you're screaming advice at the screen of what she had just done wrong.

Other extraordinarily lame and frustrating excuses are of the sort many are quite familiar with: "kids will be kids," "it's normal to tease one another" and "they need to learn to work it out amongst themselves." A superintendent actually runs down this list of what essentially amounts to reasons not to intervene during a meeting with concerned parents after the suicide of Tyler Long.

It's a maddening experience to witness, and you can see the demoralizing anger in those parents towards the school official, who clearly did not want to be there. And this is precisely part of the problem: people, whose educational responsibility extends to the well-being of the kids, would much rather make excuses or prefer to ignore the real damage inflicted by the endless taunting of other kids. One corrections officer even says it outright that bullying is no defense for the victim to breakdown and suddenly turn violent against their aggressors. He was responding to a fourteen-year-old girl carrying a gun on the school bus she had to share with her bully, a boy that yelled horribly violent, sexual things at her.

Speaking of which, the same principal mentioned above somehow justifies moving the victim to a different bus route as the logical solution to the problem. Never mind punishing the bullies whatsoever for the physical and verbal abuse they inflict on others. The best resolution in her mind is to continue making the target of the constant bullying feel like they are the problem and must therefore go away.

The other challenge is in trying to hold back the tears as you listen to the heartbreaking stories from the children suffering daily abuse at the hands of their peers and from the parents of those kids who felt they only had one option for escaping their tormentors. The documentary, directed by Lee Hirsch, touches quite a bit on the deaths of Tyler Long and Ty Smalley, somewhat comparing how the parents of both boys dealt with their loss and discovery of how much each boy suffered in silence. It's astonishing to witness talking with school officials ultimately does nothing, so these parents form advocacy groups instead, in an effort to bring more attention to the problem.

The majority of the film's focus is on Alex Libby, a high school freshmen who has no friends and has sadly become accustomed to the physical abuse he receives on the school bus. He's the boy the above principal proposes to move to a different route rather than actually confront the problem kids. It's shocking to see how clueless she is, unaware of the psychological message she's sending to Alex and how fake her sympathies seem towards Alex's parents. It's no surprise then why kids don't tell anyone because every time they try, no one is actually listening. In a conversation with the vice principal, an awfully-timid Alex explains that simply talking to the bully is clearly ineffective. Bullies stop doing one thing but find other ways to continue the torment.

We also hear from honor student and basketball player Ja'Meya Jackson, who feared for her safety so much she felt compelled to conceal a gun in backpack and wield it one day to keep her bully at bay. For this act of self-defense, she received several felony charges and was immediately expelled from school. There's also Kelby Johnson, who was kicked off her basketball team and made too feel unwanted, even by school administrators and teachers, because of who she is. Ultimately, her only option was for her and her family to move away from their hometown and to a city that's more tolerant of her lifestyle.

And there are many more similar stories being shared in this remarkable documentary that never promises a solution. Lee Hirsch's film only brings attention to the issue, forcing viewers to grapple with the realities and effects of bullying. 'Bully' is a must-watch for all children and adults alike.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

Anchor Bay and The Weinstein Company bring 'Bully' to Blu-ray as a two-disc combo pack. Inside a blue eco-lite keepcase, a Region A Locked, BD50 disc sits comfortably opposite a DVD-9 copy of the movie. There are also a couple pamphlets with the package for owners to read. At startup, the disc commences with a skippable trailer before switching to a main menu with full-motion clips and music.