Educational Media Reviews Online

The film opens with disturbing research facts from the National Crime Prevention Council. “Every 7 minutes a child is bullied. 85% of the time there is no intervention of any kind.” Although a very short film, the power of the content is compelling and illustrates the urgency for learning as much as possible about bullying and its effect on young people. Comments from advocate Erica Perlow, Co-Chair of the Chatham Count, NC Anti-Bullying Task Force and psychologist April Harris-Britt, PhD provide significant information to help viewers understand causes of bullying and responses of students who are targets of bully behavior. The film includes information on feelings and behaviors associated with long-term effects of bullying while there are several vignettes to illustrate the differences in bullying by boys vs. girls, warning signs, and the relationship between cyberbullying and suicide. The original score by Maxwell Moon is effective in capturing the essence of the emotion for each vignette. Bystanders observing bully behavior, the willingness to step up to help, and approaches for adults to talk to children and teens to help them understand how bullies operate give positive solutions to the negative bully behavior.

Although the film does not concentrate on suicide prevention in teens, viewers learn as quoted in the film that “bullying is a leading factor in suicide among kids, 11-16 years old” and that “suicides due to excessive bullying have been increasing over the past few years.” It is an excellent complement to the Human Relations Video film Reasons to Hope, Reasons to Live: Preventing Youth Suicide. Recommended for junior high and high school libraries, public libraries and for psychology collections with special emphasis on young adults.