Piggy

Bullying can destroy many people´s lives, if you actually attack someone for their physical look or if you think they are too strange. I was bullied in many years in school all the way up to high school, and when you had that many years of bullying you know how painful it can be. The absolute worse moment of the bullying years was when 4 guys carried me out naked from gym class shower, threw me out on the gymnastics floor naked and beat me up with a baseball bat. Even if this happened in 1988 i still remember it as if it was yesterday, moments like this will never go away from your mind completely. One thing i learned after many years of being bullied, was that even if these guys thought they were cool and fun, i was actually the one who were the strongest. No matter how many times they beat me down, i never gave up. I know that one of the guys who bullied me for so many years have had problems in his private life, he got divorced, he got stuck wanting to live his youth as it was still the 90´s and quit jobs while i have been married for 18 years and actually have had jobs a longer time than him. I am not saying this to offend him in any way, but i noticed that maybe he wasn´t feeling well in his personal life. Maybe his past came back to haunt him since he used to think he was God´s perfect choice for women? I hope it works out for him but i also hope he learns a lesson from all of this. I personally believe he needs to find his place in this world and let go of the past, living your youth again will not work forever. When it comes to bullying in films i have a personal favvourite film all the way from Mexico. This is a film called After Lucia ( Después de Lucia ) and is directed by Michel Franco. This film tells the story of a young girl named Alejandra ( brilliant played by actress Tessa Ia ) who moves into town with her father. She begin at a new school where she becomes a bully victim, where the bullies have no limits to hurt her. I don´t need to get into more details about the plot of this film because it is a very difficult film to watch. What they do with this girl ( when i went through some really heavy bullying myself ) makes you feel emotional and so angry. A very important film to watch for all ages, that this should not be allowed to happen. I suggest you pick After Lucia up on DVD, i promise that you will not regret seeing this film. Late last year i was hearing about a bullying film from Spain called Piggy have came out, and i have been very curious to watch this film. It was released on physical media now in Januray so i got myself a Blu Ray copy. Is this a must watch for all ages or is Piggy not as good as i was hoping it would be? 

Overweight teen Sara ( Laura Galán ) is being bullied by the same group of teenagers everyday. One day while going to swim in a local pool, they almost drown her and steal all her clothes. Walking in just her bikini on the highway, she notice a car where the girls that bullied her seems to be locked inside. An unknown man kidnap them as Sara watches him take off. No one knows where the girls are when the teenagers families are looking for them, and Sara decides to keep that secret to herself.

If you thought Piggy is just another bullying film, i can tell you right away that this film has a lot more to say than the actual bullying itself. This is a film that clearly want to show you what could happen, if a bully victim is traumatised from the bullying. But also being a witness to a serial killer as well, so this film also manage to turn around in a completely different direction. I find it fascinating that they decided to do something different than a traditional slasher film, and try to make the plot more interesting. Have we seen bullying before in a slasher film? Yes, but i can actually say that Piggy does seem more focused than most films in this genre to tell a story that capture the audience right from the start. I have to talk about lead actress Laura Galán for a while, and what a powerful impact she does in this film. She really manage to capture the personality of a bully victim through her character Sara. She does not feel loved by many, she is shy and hides most of the time in her parents butcher shop behind the counter. This is the very fist time i see Laura Galán act in a film and i am really impressed how she managed to pull this off. Actor Richard Holmes also deliver a strong performance as serial killer Desconocido, a very odd personality himself. He clearly becomes obsessed with Laura, maybe because they are both seen as outsiders in society. The scenes where he takes Laura away from everyone, you realise that this might be the first time he actually cared about another human being. As strange as it sounds considering all the people he killed, there must have been something that affected him with her. Evn if this film is not that brutal i actually think this film does a really good job with the psychological tensions, both through the victims families and the struggles of the lead character. Director Carlora Pereda deliver a film that definetely will be disturbing for many, but may also be very important to see to understand how we may be affected as human beings in pain and suffering. A really powerful film experience that does not only look very professional but especially give us very strong characters. Piggy is defnetely a film you should put up on your watch this list year.

Rating: DDDD