The Bully Project film Bully is documentary by Lee Hirsch that follows the stories of five young individuals who experience verbal and physical abuse at their schools and from their peers. Their stories tell of the cruel persecution most children face growing up. These are personal tales of bullying endured and how these five kids endured all, how it affected their lives and families, and what is being done against this cruelty.
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| Bully movie poster |
Bully has been given an R rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) due to certain language used in the film, language which I may add that are spoken by children. Of course when filming a documentary about bullying it’s inevitable that language like that will be recorded. The reality is that kids nowadays know profanity and are not shy to use it against their peers.
There has been an appeal for MPAA to repeal the documentary’s current rating as it limits the audience it can reach, most especially the ones that I think needs to see it the most, the younger demographic of the viewing audience. So far, the MPAA has remains staunch in their decision to keep the R rating in lieu of the desired PG-13 rating the film producers are after.
With its R rating, the film becomes limited from what it was meant to do: serve as a call to action against student persecution at the very schools parents thought their children will be safe in, as well as opening society’s eyes to the gravity of school yard bullying among kids and what students can be capable of doing to fellow schoolmates and to themselves. The documentary, for whatever rating it may have, is meant to educate.
Bully opened in select theatres on the 30th of March this year in the USA. Petitions are still going on to lower its current rating, an effort to help spread the message of The Bully Project.
Read more on Bully and The Bully Project:
