When We Were Bullies

Distressing memories from school days are often associated with experiences of bullying. In Jay Rosenblatt’s playful, yet serious miniature presentation, the subconscious act of power becomes the object of an in-depth examination of feelings of guilt and responsibility. The filmmaker returns to his elementary school in Brooklyn after fifty years, to his classmates and class teacher, in order to diagnose the roots of his own tendencies to bully. Instructional school films, animated collages, and confrontations with his former accomplices help him unravel the web of guilt, anger, and frustration. The film uses rationalization and psychoanalytic reconstruction as a way to fragile documentary redemption.„Yes, this is a particularly bullying moment in our collective lifetime. The making of this film, which took almost four years, has pretty much spanned the length of that nightmare administration.“ (Jay Rosenblatt)