People are voting emotionally.

Just so...so bad

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to feel for the victims in Bully. Lee Hirsch's documentary follows five families as they struggle with the effects of schoolyard bullying. But while apparently inarguable and straightforward, the film's subtle skewing obscures a number of nagging questions.To its credit, the film lets its subjects speak for themselves. A broad range of impacts are represented: two of the families are recovering from the suicides of their sons who preferred to take their own lives rather than face another day of torture at school. One girl is facing 46 felony charges after she confronted her tormentors with her mother's handgun. Another girl  (an honor's student and star athlete) has dropped out of school after suffering abuse from both teachers and students when she came out as a lesbian. And the fifth example shows the bullying in progress, a young boy with Asperger's Syndrome who gets picked on practically every moment of his life.This last example is the most squirm-inducing...and highly impressive film-making. You have to wonder how the film-makers got this footage of the wanton sadism of children. Was the camera hidden? Or were the kids just blithely, flagrantly monstrous, heedless of the consequences of being observed? Sadly, the latter scenario is all too plausible. It's the pervasiveness of such cruelty that chills the blood. The movie depicts not only the overt brutality of schoolmates, but the subtler meanness of parents, siblings, teachers, bus drivers and principals. If anything, the statistics the film-makers give out must low-ball the extent of the problem. Isn't everyone involved at some level?Which leads to one of my criticisms. The five stories the film examines all take place in the south and mid west, and happened in rural areas and small towns (Sioux City is the biggest population center represented). This might imply that bullying is unique to those regions. But, as we all know, the problem is universal – there is just as much of it (if not more) in the north and in urban areas. (The case of Tyler Clementi springs to mind).And there are some omissions in the depth of the film's probing. One of the kids (an eleven year old) killed himself with a gun. Another brought a gun to school; had it gone off, she would have been a school shooter, crossing the line from victim to monster. Bullying is a subset of the larger problem of human violence, which extends far beyond the school grounds. Contrary to what the film seems to imply, it will take far more than a "Stop Bullying" campaign to stop bullying  -- it will take a miraculous revolution in every human heart. But the film shines a light on one finite manifestation of the problem, and awakens our sympathy and concern, and that's a start.

This documentary covers 95% of what every other documentary, T.V show special, and bad Lifetime Network movie has done 100 times before. How? Don't worry I'll make my case.1. There's a Dad in the story who talks about his son who committed suicide from being bullied and what do the parents do about their sons death? They whine,mope and cry That's it. The parents, didn't confront the school for negligence of a student or the bullies who got off scott free. Worst parents ever!2. There's an assistant principal who does (shocker) absolutely nothing about any kids who get bullied. She is confronted several times throughout the whole documentary by both students and parents alike and guess what? She doesn't enforce any of her own authority. Seriously, is was anyone surprised?3. None of the parents ever put their foots down and demand from the school district that their own kids be protected from bullies because all the parents ever do is, you guessed it, wine,mope and cry. It truly is pathetic when that happens because the kids who are bullied are just left as punching bags who will also grow up never learning how to put their own foots down..All of the messages tie into the same mealy mouthed,pussy footing messages that might as well say "You see you big mean bullies? you hurt their little feelings and how they either suffer from depression or have committed suicide. Are you happy now?" I hate the whole passive/ignore the bully message. Who has actually done that and actually earned anyones respect in school? That's not how real life works. More people should be teaching kids to STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES!

Bully is a close up at the harsh conditions that many teens face throughout the adolescent life. It provides an inside view on the torment and bullying of kids. Parents, administration, and children are interviewed throughout, providing feedback from the people around the targets themselves. Overall I think the movie was an advocacy piece. Yet I'm not entirely sure it advocated a new plan to stop bullying more than it plainly showed the emotions behind bullied teens. A documentary records events, yes, yet if the director meant for it to create a change than I see no real push for that. It hit me on a whole set of emotional levels yet it did not make me go out with signs and a crowd demanding bullying by stopped. My views in bullying are already set and although this movie may have hurt emotionally, it did not inspire or strengthen my views. Bullying is wrong. Why? Because teenagers become hurt. How? The "how" is what the documentary showed. But it did not show why they were bullied. No bullies were interviewed. No parents of the bullies were interviewed. Where is the other side? Are we supposed to believe that these bullies have no heart and no soul to be bullying someone their own age so harshly? These are kids. People tend to forget that. Where is the footage of the bully's side of the story? The documentary was a doc you would watch if you wanted to cry, not one to be inspired by. Yes, it follows kids around and "documents" their hardships. Yes, they go around interviewing people. But who? And where? Administrators made out to be neglectful, dishonorable people; children to be monsters, and parents to be unapt at parenting. And all in republican red states. It did not get a full cultural view no did it get a full fair view of anyone. Only one side was shown! If it is a documentary, it's meant to DOCUMENT the events! So where are the other half of the events! I just think the film could have provided a larger perspective and a wider range of information, specifically including the bully' side of things. It falls short in those categories, which in my opinion, basically qualifies a documentary to be one. Emotionally it hit all the right spots. But. That's. It.

How I totally related to the bullied victims in the film, this documentary is a powerful testament about the good that can come from film making. This documentary follows bullied teens and pre-teens who are bullied to death. There are plenty of ways to be victimized in the school system. I would have loved to have been an English teacher in a school and made every effort to curb bullying or prevent such behavior. Unfortunately, bullying doesn't end at high school graduation. It's worse now with the Internet. In my day, the bullies couldn't get me at home unless by phone. Still bullying has always been around. Finally, it is now getting attention. There are too many suicides from bullying. If I can send you one message, it does get better. I only wished that I fought back.