Review: CHARITY is A Formidable Call to Stop the Bullying

The debilitating and devastating effects of bullying are poignantly portrayed in Alex Haney's CHARITY ~ a message film, produced with the assistance of the Stop Bullying Foundation and However Productions ( Susan Graham and Lauren Fash), with an unusual and inspiring twist. In the case of this 27 minute film, there is a note of hope that is both edifying and instructive.

The short is a dramatization based on Haney's personal experience in high school but translated through the eyes of a female lead.

Katherine Carter (the writer-director's sister Angela Haney) is a star student whose achievements (academic and charitable ~ she raises funds to support early childhood education) are belittled (an all too familiar phenomenon) and feed the jealousy and spite of a childhood not-so-friendly friend, Katie Porter (Charlie Morgan Patton).

It is not solely the alternating between pretensions of amity and hateful e-mails, the escalating teasing and the insults, that Katherine endures. There is the cultural bias to ignore or blame the victim. There are the enablers. Katie's parents (Dean Scofield and a sinister Pamela Guest) are inclined to minimize their daughter's behavior as harmless. There are the school administrators who are happy enough to avoid conflict and dispose of the matter.

Ideally, victims of bullying should have recourse and a support system on which to rely. In CHARITY, Katherine's parents (Emmy Award-winner Marabina Jaimes and David Cowgill) fulfil that role.

The film's tension builds off the vivid portrayals by Haney and Patton of two dramatically distinctive personalities. Haney's eyes capture Katherine's pain, bewilderment, and vulnerability. Patton's every glare and scowl define not only the bully's vitriol but also an underlying anguish that fuels her ferocity.

In the end, Katherine's strength and her victory derive not only from parental support and an internal fortitude which could easily crack, but from an epiphany that one wishes all victims of bullying could internalize and thus survive and prosper ~ that the ultimate charity is taking care of yourself.

That affirmation is embodied in Harriet Schock's closing song (easily an anti-bullying anthem), My Horizon, performed by Molly Chapman.

Director Haney's and the Foundation's noble goal is "to distribute CHARITY in schools around the country to educate students, teachers and administrators about the consequences of bullying." After watching the film, you'll second the (e)motion.

CHARITY is one of the shorts to be featured at the Sedona International Film Festival during the week of February 25th. #NoMoreBull

Photo credit to CHARITY

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