Recommended: Bully

This is not "entertainment"; in fact, Le Duc and I both cried through the documentary "Bully" (director, Lee Hirsch). My first words as the lights came up were, "This is an important film"–an important film that will break your heart and galvanize you.

Everything I'd say has been stated eloquently in a review by Mike Lasalle in the San Francisco Chronicle. Here is his final paragraph:

"..."Bully" makes Oklahoma look like one of the most awful places to grow up in the United States, though I have to admit one person in this film shook my urban bias to the foundation.

I'm talking about Kirk Smalley, whose little boy shot himself because he was afraid to go to school.

"To my ignorant eyes, Smalley, tall and rail thin, looked like something out of the dustbowl, like someone about to be photographed by Dorothea Lange. And then this man started talking into the camera about his son–and later to a group of people on the subject of bullying–and every word out of his mouth was pure, true and unconsciously eloquent.

I could sit at this keyboard and write for a month, and I'll never be able to come up with words so full of feeling, and yet so dignified and so elevated by a concern for others. That's an extraordinary man, and this is an extraordinary picture."

There are few films that aim to save lives and change the world; "Bully" is one. Edited to finally earn a PG-13 rating, "Bully" will now be shown in schools. Every child, parent, teacher and community member should see it.

Even if you're out of the world of kids and schools, you will be served by the film, because bullies grow up to abuse outside the playground. Viewing the type of behaviour which contributed to the suicides of children as young as 11 will be difficult and intense, but you'll discover new resolve and heart for addressing a complex issue which affects every community.

Here's a start, the trailer: