Directed by Lee Hirsch
There is one salient reason this reviewer cannot recommend this documentary under any circumstances.
Working over 11 years in radio news, there is one short and unspoken rule in reporting: never, EVER report a suicide, unless the person in question is a public figure. Why? Because whenever it is reported that someone has taken their own life, it inspires others to do the same.
Hard to believe? It isn’t. As drastic and irreversible as suicide may seem, there is something in the human psyche that finds it imminently appealing. No waiting for the Grim Reaper’s scythe to fall: take a handful of pills and control your own destiny. Whenever a celebrity is reported to have ended his life – paging Kurt Cobain, that figure’s many followers follow in a lemming-like plunge off the cliff. This is especially true in the young and very young, not well versed in the ways of the world. “I’m not going to be able to drive until I’m 17 … the girl I like in math class called me a doodie head … my nose is too big and my acne is too severe – where is dad’s Saturday Night Special?”
That’s why all the media coverage surrounding teenage suicides related to bullying – as well as this film, good intentions and all, may actually have contributed to the unnecessary deaths of young people, who in their naive, desperate act said “I’m going to show them!” While these victims must ultimately accept their own decisions for their actions, in this reviewer’s opinion, news reports such as these have never exactly been helpful.