EDMOND, Oklahoma -
The movie "Bully" that
documents the struggles of five children who were bullied premiers in Oklahoma
tonight and one of the kids featured in the film now lives in Edmond.
The film
chronicle's Alex Libby's life as he was bullied at an Iowa middle school. Alex
had just started a new school: Jr. High in Sioux City, when the bullying
started.
"I wanted to make my
parents feel like they had made the right decision, so I didn't tell them,"
Alex explained to News 9 on Thursday.
"He had completely
disconnected from life and at that point we felt there was only one other way
he could disconnect," said Alex's mother Jackie.
For a year
filmmakers followed Alex, documenting his and his family's struggle. But not
even Alex's parents understood the extent of the problem until they saw the
movie for the first time.
"The first bus
scene where somebody bashes Alex's head into a bus seat, I gasped in horror and
then sobbed the entire time," said Jackie.
It was after that
Alex's family decided to move. They enrolled him in November at Edmond
Memorial.
"I met some of
these wonderful people and I became friends with them," said Alex.
Now, his part in
the movie has raised not only Alex's celebrity, but awareness for the
issue.
"It's definitely
opened my eyes for the need for change, for the seriousness of the
situation. It is a national problem," said Carrie Higdon, the freshman
principal at Edmond Memorial.
A problem, that
doesn't always have a happy ending.
"We've watched him
over the course of the year, change back into who he used to be," said
Jackie. "That is the gift that we got, we got our son back."
Alex's family
chose Oklahoma because of the other two families featured in the movie are from
Oklahoma.
It was after that Alex's family decided to move. They enrolled him in November at Edmond Memorial.
The film chronicle's Alex Libby's life as he was bullied at an Iowa middle school.
