Hello Herman

So I finally watched the movie Hello Herman a few nights ago. (Of course since I live in the boondocks and have satellite Internet I had to wait until after midnight so I wouldn't use up my download threshold. Good thing I am a bit of an insomniac. It took me several days before I could complete this as well because of my health and extenuating circumstances, but hey, I got around to the thing eventually. Okay, totally off topic and I'll get back to the movie now.) I'll admit I am a big Norman Reedus fan especially with The Boondock Saints and the fact that I am a complete The Walking Dead junkie, so I'll try not to let that taint my review. Try. I should warn you though that there are MANY spoilers ahead. And of course this is NOT a professional movie review and is loaded with tons of my own anecdotes and opinions.

I was interested in the movie though since I did teach and witnessed bullying and know the effects it can have on students. I've always been a supporter of the underdog so picking on people or harassing them is a BIG pet peeve of mine. I suppose I could say I was bullied in elementary school for being the "smart kid" and also the pudgy one after I had surgery when I was seven years old. In Kindergarten and 1st grade it was for being too skinny and pulling at my underwear all the time because of a refluxing urethra tube and constant UTIs I had to take medications for that aggravated that oh so tender area....oh and for having to go to the bathroom all the time. There was even one girl who was in high school who taunted me on the bus that my mother did have to go up to the school and talk to the superintendent about. In junior high I went to a new school and it was more of a sexual harassment thing since I developed early. By the time I got to high school it was well known to leave me alone or I would stab you with a pencil if you touched me without my permission (true story) and most girls didn't bother me cause, well I was a stout girl, quiet, and was told in college by a guy that I was intimidating and he was scared of me until he got to know me so maybe I gave off that vibe. I do remember taking up for people though that got picked on. I had study hall with a mentally retarded girl that a guy a grade below me liked to taunt. One day he went too far and all I knew is I was flying over several desks, cussing him out, and ready to wring his neck before Coach came in and stopped it all. I was good at getting out of stuff like the pencil stabbing and the almost throat wringing incident because I was basically a good student and earned good grades.

Being a teacher you notice things as well. I will say there were several things I overlooked when someone would stand up to a bully and several I had a "coming to Jesus" talks as they called it out in the hallway with bullies about their actions. You do what you can as a teacher and report things and try to help but there are always going to be things that happen behind the scenes as well. Of course there are some teachers who are bullies themselves. I can remember my 4th grade teacher having the paddle with holes in it and giving birthday whippings that hurt like hell. She also taunted me for signing up for pee wee basketball saying I would be afraid of the ball. Teachers like that exacerbate the problem.

But school shootings didn't happen back when I went to school. Columbine was almost eight years after I graduated high school. And it's grown. People keep looking for the culprit(s) and answers. Is there any one answer? I don't know. Back to the movie though it addresses the issue of bullying. The shooter was a 16 year old who was pushed around, had his head dunk in the toilet of the school bathroom, had a girl he liked and liked him back pretend she wanted nothing to do with him around peers (peer pressure), and even had teachers telling him to man up. He had a broken home where the father left and the mother worked all the time and seemed more interested in climbing the ladder at work. He was left to his own devices and played violent video games. He saw his sister die in a horrific accident and couldn't even get his mother on the phone because she was a busy woman. The mother blamed the father for leaving of course. There is easy access to guns. Kids can look up how to make pipe bombs on the Internet. However, do these things add up to becoming a serial killer at such a young age as your peers?

I had a broken home. I had a dysfunctional home that I won't even get into at the moment. I watched violent movies and television shows. Very easy access to guns. I suppose I was not bullied at the high school level though.

I think we need to look at outside factors along with mental status of some of these kids. How many are getting pumped full of drugs that don't need them? How many are out there who have severe mental issues who really do need something? Doctors try to do quick fixes these days and many miss the mark. I can remember having a 7th grade girl in one of my classes who was being bullied by some other female students. I found a note that shocked me that was to her and gave it to the counselor. A few days in class I noticed she was like a zombie and completely out of it. I kept her after class one day and asked her what was going on. She told me she had been put on some new medicine. I talked with a counselor at the school and found out she was on an extremely high dosage of a SSI anti-depressant medication at 12 years old and she probably weighed 90 pounds soaking wet. She had been cutting herself since being on it also. Thankfully she was taken off it and seemed like the happy, normal preteen girl she was. How many are missed though?

The movie Hello Herman is good in itself in that it addresses multiple factors that people have been discussing that cause school shootings to happen. In this instance the shooter doesn't turn the gun on himself though and wants his story to be told by a reporter, Lax Morales (Norman Reedus), and sees this as a way to fame and immortality by killing 39 students and teachers. Lax has demons he has to face himself and Herman has read up about him on the Internet. While doing an undercover story into the KKK he helps to beat a black child to death. Apparently this was to keep his cover and to get the records of planned attacks to save hundreds more. I can't say I much blame his character for the nightmares and it brings in the question of morality. Do you hurt one person for the greater good? Is one human life worth the sacrifice? Especially trying to get your big break in journalism. Lax does show the two sides of Herman - the sweet child and then the cold blooded killer though.

Politics comes into play also in this movie. We have the ACLU fighting for the child's rights and a right wing senator promising to put an end to this sort of violence. The answer is an expedited televising of a live execution of Herman, via electric chair (not sure what happened to lethal injection). I sure hope this is not the answer to future school shootings, but can't deny that political factors are at play and each "side" uses such atrocities to push their agendas ad mist the chaos. Whether it is tougher gun laws, or as my state has recently decided to do - arm teachers in 13 school districts which scares the beejebus out of me in all honesty. People want answers and I'm not sure either "side" is interested in finding the true cause(s) of these horrible acts and ways to actually resolve them.

One thing I do like about the movie is the strong anti-bullying message it does send. That comes through loud and clear. I do commend the producers, directors, actors, and all other involved in making this movie for that. Would I show it in my classroom if I were still a teacher? Yes. Would the principal allow me? Probably not because of the use of the "N" word in the KKK scenes and the cursing. Maybe some school districts will not have a problem with it however, and perhaps it can help some out there to understand that bullying is a bad thing. Heck, if it helps even one understand that then it has accomplished something.