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Cast: Matt O’Leary, Marshall Allman, John Savage, Paul Ben-Victor, Natasha Henstridge
A middle-American teenage boy who is affected by 9/11, terrorism, and the war in Iraq becomes involved in an isolated high school altercation that escalates into a hate crime that shocks the entire nation.
"American Bully" is a film about the after effects of 9/11, the film focuses on a group of high school kids who don't have much to do besides hang out and drink. Brandon who seems to be the leader of the group is suspended for a day for passing around an execution video he found on the internet to everyone at school so he decides to invite his buddies over for a party to celebrate his joining the marines. What starts out as a good time quickly escalates into something much more serious when Brandon decides to take his confusion and anger out on a classmate from India who Brandon sees as just another terrorist.
Co-writer/Director, Dave Rodriguez does a terrific job at building tension as the story moves along, you can sense Brandon's misguided anger is heading into trouble early on and as he spirals out of control you edge closer and closer to the front of your seat. To talk about what happened in the film would only lead to spoilers so I am not going to give away anymore details here, this is a story that is better seen, there's no way you can get angry, sad and even disturbed by reading about it. I have to admit I wasn't expecting much here, I try to go into the films I receive knowing as little as possible about the plot and if you go by the title you might think the film is a a straight forward tale of bullying which is a hot topic itself today but this is much more than that.
A story of a confused young man and his friends who are willing to go along with everything until things begin to spiral out of control, a realistic, tragic tale that is made even more impressive but it's amazing young cast. Matt O'Leary, Marshall Allman, Sam Murphy and Ross Britz are terrific as young men, these are all young actors with a very bright future ahead of them. "American Bully" is not a happy tale, it's a sad, tragic film that is provocative and thought-provoking as well as disturbing. A must-see film that leaves you thinking long after it's over, films like this that have lasting effects don't come around often so I highly recommend checking out this little Indie gem, everything about the film looks much better than the budget would suggest and everything from the direction, camera work to the incredible cast makes this a film not to be missed. The DVD comes only with the film's Trailer but the film itself with worth owning. You can order the DVD HERE.
Released by Green Apple Entertainment
**** Out Of *****