'Walking on the Moon' is a very gut-wrenching film that every schoolchild should be made to watch the moment they reach their latter years of primary school as there has never been a drama that grinds in the message of how soul-destroying bullying can be.
The film's main character is thirteen-year-old Daniel, an intelligent and well-adjusted child who enjoys school, has a passion for space exploration and knows how to stand up for his own rights. However, his life comes crashing down around him when he makes the 'mistake' of coming to the aid of a friend being picked on, bringing him to the attention of the bullies. From that day on, he is left to endure systematic and brutal bullying at the hands of these fellow classmates while teachers and his parents turn a blind-eye to his misery. All his pains culminate until one fateful day when Daniel takes matters into his own hands...
'Walking on the Moon' drags into the light that schools are not always safe-havens for children and that it is up to adults to protect the vulnerable. Daniel didn't receive such support and, in many ways, the adults around him are left seeming almost as bad as those who harassed him. This film also portrays the reality that children are not necessarily adorable little darlings incapable of hurting a fly as there are some youngsters who are capable of violence that could put a grown adult to shame. There is nothing more harrowing than seeing a happy, loyal young boy being reduced to a wretched, anguished mess thanks to the vindictiveness of other children who he dared to stand up to.
It is not acceptable to take this view that bullies are wee innocents just out to indulge in youthful 'pranks' while their victims need to buck up and stop complaining. Bullying is bullying; that is a fact and we should all take a no tolerance approach to it, no matter what the age of the aggressor. Victims of cruel, unrelenting bullying are getting younger and younger as are those who are responsible for the abuse (just a couple of years ago, in the UK, a child of only ten committed suicide due to bullying). 'Walking on the Moon' shows that by refusing to take childhood bullying seriously, we are failing millions of real Daniels who desperately need to be defended and those who torment them brought to justice. We are also letting down the bullies themselves by not nipping their aggression in the bud while they are still young enough to be set right.
There is no happy ending for Daniel but through increasing awareness of the issues raised in 'Walking on the Moon', perhaps there can be a resolution for the children who face this abuse every single day in real life. There is a Channel Four short film, which nicely compliments this about what happens when a mother discovers her son had been driven to suicide due to bullying and she is left bitterly enraged with the bullies and the teachers at their school, if anyone can remember the title.
