In this powerful new documentary, filmmaker Eamonn Devlin turns the lens onto himself as he goes on a deeply personal journey to reveal the long-lasting and emotional scars of being bullied as a child.
A year in the making, Bully For You, on BBC One NI, is a hard-hitting and at times harrowing account of Eamonn’s own 25 year struggle to come to terms with the torture he experienced as a 13-year-old, facing some disturbing memories and images of being bullied at school which have haunted him ever since.
On his journey, Eamonn meets three individuals who were also bullied at school. They share the mental and physical anguish they experienced at the hands of their bullies and reveal how it has led them to such things as self-harm, drugs, over-eating or even contemplating suicide.
We also hear from families of victims of bullying, including the sister of a young girl who took her own life at the age of 14. Catrina, a teenager for whom being bullied is a recent memory, tells Eamonn: “I honestly, don’t know how I’ve coped. I don’t even know how I’ve come this far... Maybe in time I’ll be able to forgive those people, but I’ll never forget.”
Andrew, now in his 30s, recalls his memories of being bullied in school and when describing one particular incident says: “It’s so real, as I say, I can close my eyes and I can just see it all happening and I can see it all unfolding. I’ve spent nearly 13 years now going through it all in my head and thinking what could I have done different to change it.”
Exploring his own personal experiences of being bullied, Eamonn meets one of Ireland’s leading authorities on bullying, Professor Mona O’Moore, from Trinity College, Dublin, and trained counsellor Jim Deeds, to discuss his torment and talks to his own mother and an old school friend to go back over those painful days.
Eamonn says: “There was a lot of pain in making this journey and even afterwards I still ask myself was it all worthwhile, what have I really achieved? It’s only now, almost two years later, that it has begun to make sense; that I have started to feel a form of closure. “I must say though, I am very nervous about the film being broadcast. I feel that it will show a side of me that I have bottled up for years, kept hidden. Now it’s out there for all to see. I hope that the film goes in some way to highlight the pain and suffering that bullying causes and if even one person has second thoughts about making someone else feel bad about who they are, then it will have achieved its goal.”
Bully For You is an insightful, moving documentary which illustrates how, for many, schooldays are not the happiest of their lives, but instead the most horrific. This is a Triplevision production for BBC Northern Ireland. Bully For You is part of BBC Northern Ireland’s new autumn schedule of powerful local programmes for Mondays at 9pm for BBC One NI.