The MPAA claims to have given Lee Hirsch's well-intended but disappointingly perfunctory documentary about the bullying epidemic an "R" rating because of a couple of common expletives. But I think they might be more concerned about letting unsupervised kids watch supposedly responsible adults act like ignorant, malicious, and cowardly bullies themselves. Like the school principal who evades taking responsibility when parents confront her with evidence of their son's abuse; or the sheriff who declares that the 14-year-old who pulled a gun on her tormentors could get hundreds of years in prison; or the teachers who, as one victimized child relates, not only don't stop the abuse, but instigate it. Hirsch's film is the antithesis of upbeat docs like Spellbound; instead of young people finding empowerment through accomplishment, they suffer degradation through ill treatment, with little recourse in a culture that values cruelty.
