Because the film Bully has received so much attention from ads, trailers and social media, I doubt the content of the movie is unknown. It’s a character-driven documentary about America’s bullying crisis. Writer/director Lee Hirsch filmed several children who had been bullied as well as parents, school teachers and administrators during the course of a 2009/2010 school year inside East Middle School in Sioux City, Iowa.

The stories of several subjects were chosen to identify with this tragedy that has become epic in America. I assumed these stories would be uncomfortable and tragic, but the impact of the film goes way beyond those feelings.

Alex is a 12-year-old trying to cope with bullying at his school in Sioux City. Every day he trots off to school with the best of intentions -- only to suffer slurs, curses, pencil stabling, neck choking and worse right on the bus. Just trying to fit in, he paints one picture of his torture to his parents while actually suffering another. When his mom and dad try to interact with school officials on his behalf, they might as well be slapped in the face by the "kids will be kids" type answers they receive.

Kelby, a 16-year-old Oklahoma girl and all-star athlete who finally came out to everyone about being a lesbian, never knew how far bias could go in one's own small town. Students, teachers, Christians and townspeople forced her out of sports. When her parents wanted to move away, she valiantly said no,  but there comes a point when the backstabbing is enough, and the breaking point is not far away.

Some kids can handle more than others. For 14-year-old Ja’Meya of Yazoo County, Mississippi, who was picked on every morning and afternoon of the hour-long bus ride between home and school, it soon became too much to bear. Her solution involved a loaded handgun.

For some parents, intervention comes too late or not at all. David and Tina Long were among those parents in October 2009 when 17-year-old Tyler Long of Murray County, Georgia, hanged himself after years of abuse at the hands of his classmates and indifference from school officials. His parents demanded accountability from the school and sparked a war among the community. But even if one child is now saved, it can never ease the pain of finding your son hanging in his closet.

Kirk and Laura Smalley's son, 11-year-old Ty, ended his life by suicide as a result of bullying. Kirk then launched an anti-bullying organization, Stand for the Silent, coordinating a series of vigils that underscore the high stakes of America’s bullying crisis.

"Suicide is the ultimate consequence of bullying, so yes, we did know early on that we wanted to tell the stories of parents whose children had committed suicide due to bullying," Hirsch said. "We wanted people to be aware of how high the stakes are and to dispel the notion that bullying is just “kids being kids.” We filmed with four families. The youngest child lost was 9-year-old Montana Lance, who hung himself in the nurse’s office at his elementary school."

While not easy to watch, Bully is one of the most important films teachers, school administrators and parents of children still in school can see, and they should see it with their teens. The MPAA rating was changed from an "R" to a "PG-13" to enable more viewers to see it, which seems absurd since kids can watch teens kill each other to survive in Hunger Games, the current popular fantasy film.

(Released by The Weinstein Company and rated "PG-13" by MPAA.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.