The decision by the Motion Picture Association of America to give the new documentary “Bully” an R rating (for extensive profanity) angered many people and generated a grassroots campaign, led by a teen who was a target of bullying, to lower the rating to PG-13 so that preteens could view the movie without their parents. The film, to be released to select theaters March 30 without an MPAA rating, chronicles a year in the lives of several children who are targets of bullying and the responses by their families and schools to the problem.

Dorothy Espelage, professor of child development in the Department of Educational Psychology and internationally recognized expert on bullying, was invited by the filmmaker to see the movie before its release. She spoke recently with News Bureau education editor Sharita Forrest about the film.