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There's a new film coming out this weekend that you may have heard a lot about, but as one reviewer puts it, that won't prepare you for the experience of seeing it.
It's called "Bully" and it depicts the impact of school bullying on the kids who are traumatized by it in a way we've never seen. What makes the movie so riveting, so disturbing, is the access the filmmaker had to its subject. Filmmakers followed Alex Libby at age 12 for one year at his Iowa school.
Harsh language--six 'F words' included--got the film an R rating. After losing an appeal for a PG-13, producers took an unusual approach and released it without rating.
Doug Wright's Take
It's tough to justify it when a movie is using the F-bomb in there. The age-old justification is that this is what kids are hearing in their schools every day anyway, but should that justify it being in a movie?
The message of this movie is something kids should see. However, I understand there are some scenes in this movie that are so disturbing during the filming of it, that at one point the director stopped filming.
This movie has limited release and is not opening in Utah today. It will eventually be here, most likely in some of the art houses. Nationwide, AMC theaters will show the movie but Cinemark will not.
Parents should be aware of the movie and its contents and not just rely on the no rating to assume it's appropriate for their child.
