Movie #1480 ........................."13 Reasons Why"

Movie #1480 "13 Reasons Why" was a t.v. show I bingewatched , and it is a very important one that needs to be seen by many, esp. parents WITH their kids.  I'm sure you have heard the basic premise:  a h.s. girl, a victim of bullying in her school, commits suicide, and instead of leaving one note, she leaves 13 tapes, each one dedicated to a reason why she has done it.  The t.v. show episodes  unveil each of the kids and the story as it progresses through the tapes, with Clay being the lead guy (Tape 10), who has just received the tapes and is now having an extremely tough time going through listening to them because he was in love with the dead girl and is going through grief.  I can't speak enough on how intricate and witty and successful the editing and storytelling is, esp. when it overlaps in location --- for example, a scene plays out between Hannah and her girlfriend Sherry in the local coffee shop, as the camera pans to Clay who is in the present looking at the table where it happened..... It might not make sense as I put it in writing, but if you watch it, you would understand.  I know this show has been controversial with some parents saying that it might give copycat ideas for  this kind of action, but i disagree --- this is a subject that NEEDs to be talked about, and from what I remember about teaching h.s. kids, it seemed very realistic in many situations.  Yes, there is too much violence (disclaimer, two rapes), too many fights, and the last three tapes, in particular, are very very tough to watch ,  but the bullying and the dynamics within the halls of the school seemed very raw and real to me.  The film doesn't come down heavily on just one area -- it doesn't just blame parents, or the bullying kids, or the counselor and the school, but it says when all of this fails the one girl, then this might happen.  But it doesn't leave them off the hook, though, either.  It is very obvious that everyone should  feel guilty about what has happened .  There's a a way of thinking that many of us use automatically when a tragedy like this happens:  We all tend to  say to others and ourselves that the victim was ultimately to blame for suicide --- after all, he/she took his/her own life, and there's just so much we can do as their friends or family members.  But this t.v. show underlines very much that we DO have a lot to do with it and we need to remind ourselves everyday to look out for others, and be so much more caring than we are.  And this needs to be said over and over again.....this is a subject that we do not talk about enough and we should!!!!! ( give it 4.5 stars out of 5)

"13 REASONS WHY"         2017       1 season

Many suicide victims go to their graves without explanation. But before killing herself, teen Hannah Baker arranges for her audio diaries to be sent to a classmate, who's instructed to pass them along to 12 other students who had a part in her death.

Cast

Katherine Langford, Dylan Minnette,Brandon Flynn, Miles Heizer, Alisha Boe,Devin Druid, Ross Butler, Christian Navarro, Justin Prentice, Derek Luke,Ajiona Alexus, Kate Walsh, Amy Hargreaves, Michele Selene Ang, Steven Silver, Tommy Dorfman, Brian d'Arcy James